All About Liv Tyler's Relationship with Famous Parents Steven Tyler and Bebe Buell
Liv Tyler is the daughter of model and singer Bebe Buell and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler
Liv Tyler grew up with not two but three rock star parents: singer mom Bebe Buell, pop-rocker stepfather Todd Rundgren, and her birth father, Steven Tyler, whom she didn't learn was her dad until she was 10.
When Liv was born on July 1, 1977, Steven was struggling with drug addiction, and Buell had recently been in a relationship with Todd, who agreed to sign Liv's birth certificate. Around 10 years later, Liv met Steven and Buell told her the truth of her paternity.
The actress has spoken about her love for both of her dads, calling Todd her "spiritual father" in 1992 and explaining how Steven supported her during the birth of her son Sailor in 2017.
Related: Steven Tyler's 4 Children: All About Liv, Mia, Chelsea and Taj
Buell raised Liv with her extended family in Maine and New York City. During an interview with MORE magazine, Liv characterized her childhood as "eccentric."
The Ad Astra actress also learned a lot about herself as she grew to understand both of her father's unique perspectives on the world. "Both my fathers are unconventional. They are like unicorns or wizards," she told The Guardian in 2017.
"They are musicians through and through. The way they think is just different. Their eccentricities have made me more practical and more normal, in a way," Liv continued.
Though their relationship had its ups and downs, Liv is now close with Steven as well as her three half-siblings from the "Sweet Emotion" singer's previous relationships, sisters Mia Tyler and Chelsea Tyler and brother Taj Tallarico. Steven refers to his adult kids as his "wolf pack."
Here's everything to know about Liv Tyler's relationship with her parents, Steven Tyler and Bebe Buell.
Her parents met in the '70s
Steven — who was born on March 26, 1948, in N.Y.C. — was already the well-known lead singer of Aerosmith when he met Buell in the mid-1970s. Buell was born in Virginia on July 14, 1953, and moved to N.Y.C. when she was 18 to pursue a singing and modeling career.
The two met around 1974 when Buell and her then-boyfriend Todd were flown to Boston, as the rock group was considering hiring him as a producer.
"It was pouring down rain and mud everywhere and I was dressed in a long white dress and espadrilles and didn't want to step over the mud. Todd was going, 'Bebe, stop it.' Steven could see what was going on and he comes leaping over, throws his coat over the puddle and picks me up and carries me across," Buell told Rolling Stone in 2018. "I thought it was hilarious, and very gallant. Like a knight in shining leopard."
Related: Who Is Steven Tyler's Girlfriend? All About Aimee Preston
The two had a short affair, and Buell gave birth to their daughter Liv on July 1, 1977 — Todd signed the birth certificate and helped to raise Liv for years.
Though the two are not together, Buell still considers Steven to be family, writing on Instagram in 2022 that "ST is one of my oldest and dearest friends. Fifty years!"
"I know now why I didn't marry Todd Rundgren and I didn't marry Steven Tyler. I know now why they have the roles they have in my life now, as opposed to then," she told The Believer in 2017. "I thought it would be Todd that would be my lifelong friend. That turned out to be Steven, who everybody thought would be the big f---up. He's turned out to be the one who's done the most work on himself and has come the fullest circle and is the best person I know."
Liv found out Steven was her father when she was 10
Due to Steven's struggle with drug addiction, Buell claimed that Todd was Liv's father — her birth name was Liv Rundgren. In 2013, she referred to Todd as her "step father" on Instagram.
"I'm so grateful to Todd for choosing to be a father figure to me," Liv told The Guardian. "It's a big thing for a man to say, 'I know this kid might not be mine, but I still want to be her father.' Although he and my mom weren't together, he was always a very stable, loving force in my life."
When Liv was around 8 years old, she met Steven for the first time. "It was a moment that was bigger than me," she told the outlet. "When you meet kin, there is an energy and sparkle between your bodies. It must be chemical somehow – DNA and genes. I felt a connection in a very strong way when I met him as a little girl and I didn't know why at first, but I figured it out rather quickly."
"After we met, he, Steven, started calling and we'd go see him," she told Wonderland in 2009. "He was just out of rehab, so part of going through those steps is making amends by reaching out to my mom after years of being a drug addict and not ever being there. He'd never met me before."
It wasn't until she was around 10 that Liv brought up her concerns about who her biological father might be. "Strangely enough, when I first met my dad ... I didn't know he was my dad and I fell in love with him. I put his poster on my wall," she told Interview magazine in 1997. "I would talk to him on the wall ... My mom has a diary entry or something where I wrote, 'I think Steven is my father.' I had the same feelings for Todd."
Once Buell revealed the truth to her daughter, Liv and Steven got to know each other, and she later changed her last name to Tyler. In 1993, a then-teenage Liv even appeared alongside Alicia Silverstone in Aerosmith's music video for "Crazy."
Liv has since shared social media posts of their daddy-daughter dates, like taking in the 2015 Givenchy show during New York Fashion Week.
Liv empathizes with her both of her parents
Buell was a young mom — she had at Liv at age 23 and raised her as a single parent in N.Y.C. When she was younger, Liv said she had "feelings and [made] judgments about wanting your parents to be a certain way," but once she became a parent herself, she better understood what her mother had gone through.
"She always had a very optimistic, positive approach, which is trendy nowadays. But way before there were self-help books about it, my mom always followed her heart. I really admire that," Liv told The Guardian.
The Wilding star also told the outlet that the "lifestyle in New York was crazy" for a young model, and she believes her mom "was a bit overwhelmed," which was how a very young Liv came to live in Maine with her extended family.
"I had a very family-rich childhood," she said. "I learned that you lean into your family, ask for help, and show compassion. My grandmother is still my best friend. It could have been a different road – I could have grown up alone in an apartment with a nanny."
The Incredible Hulk actress has said she had a tough time understanding her unique parental situation when she was younger. In her Wonderland interview, she specifically referenced the frustration she felt toward her mom.
"It was hard for me as a kid, because I was definitely sad and angry that I didn't have this Perfect Mommy thing," she said. "But now I have a lot of empathy for her. I mean going through everything that I've been going through the last couple of years, I really understand."
In 2008, the Critics Choice Award winner shared similar sentiments about both Buell and Steven with The Telegraph.
"I have more empathy for my parents now. As a child I didn't understand why that would happen — how that could happen," Liv explained. "Everybody had a different interpretation [of the situation] and how they participated. And you know what — I'm OK with that. All that matters is whatever kind of relationship I can have with them now."
Steven and Buell share three grandchildren
Liv is mom to a son, Milo William, with her ex-husband Roy Langdon and two children with partner David Gardner — son Sailor Gene and daughter Lula Rose. Both Steven and Buell have shared happy memories of their family outings with their three grandchildren.
Steven has been a hands-on grandfather — literally. Gardner was out of town when Liv went into labor with Sailor early. Liv called Mia to support her at the hospital, who then called Steven. The rocker jumped on a plane and made it in time for Sailor's birth, even cutting his grandson's umbilical cord.
"Never in a million years would [I] have thought I'd give birth with my dad and my sister, but it was actually really sweet because ... we were laughing a lot," Liv said on Jimmy Kimmel Live in 2015.
The "Pink" singer visits Liv in England when he can, and they've also taken family trips together to Steven's beloved Disney Parks, including a 2018 outing to Disneyland Paris.
"Papa Stevie," as he told PEOPLE his grandkids refer to him, has long been a big fan of Disney Parks, previously posting about family trips to the various amusement parks. His grandpa duty time has also been well documented, as has his celebrating of his grandchildren's birthdays on social media.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY LULA ROSE ?? ... HOPING FOR YOU THAT ALL YOUR DAYS STAY AS CAREFREE AS A BUBBLE … " the "Dream On" singer captioned a video of his granddaughter in 2019.
Buell shared an equally precious post when Liv's son Sailor turned 8 in 2023, writing on Instagram, "Happy Birthday ?????? to our family Unicorn ??. We love you ?? so much, Sailor! You were sent from 5D heaven and beyond … a spark in the universe!"
Though Steven told PEOPLE in 2018 that it can be "a little hard" to get the whole family together on a regular basis, they do their best. "We try to get together for Christmas and it's fun, it's beautiful. What we got is beautiful," he said.
So how is Papa Stevie as a grandpa? "It's interesting. He's a different kind of grandfather," Liv said on The Ellen DeGeneres Show in 2020. "Granddad wears nail polish and more makeup than me. He's very sweet."
Liv sees herself in both of her parents
In 2009, Liv told Wonderland what traits she takes from her parents: "child-like joy and optimism."
"My mom has definitely been through some painful things in her life, and she has always taught me that everything happens for a reason," Liv said. "And that has really helped me a lot in the past couple of years. I'm a very grateful person: I see that there is a lot of beauty in the world. There's a lot of sadness and pain too."
In honor of Steven's 70th birthday in 2018, Liv shared some of the hard-won lessons she has learned from her dad over the years. Alongside a throwback photo of the pair's 1994 Rolling Stone cover, Liv wrote on Instagram that Steven taught her to always ask questions, listen, feel joy and gratitude even when speedbumps come her way, and stand up and fight for what she believes in.
"You are a force to be reckoned with, a true inspiration and when you open your mouth to sing you light up the whole world," she wrote in her tribute.
Buell was once her daughter's manager
When she was younger, Buell was Liv's manager. In 1997, Vanity Fair asked Liv, then 19, if she had fired her mother from that gig.
"How can I fire someone I never hired?" she responded. "She's my mother. You don't fire or hire your mother. I just feel that it's much more important for us to have a personal relationship than a constant business relationship. I love my mother, and I want my mother to be my mother."
Buell was then asked if she felt as if she had been fired, to which she replied similarly to her daughter. "No. I don't. I don't even know what that word means," she said. "How can you fire your mother?"
The former model told Vulture in 2011 that she saw herself more as a guiding force than a manager, explaining, "I had a lot of knowledge of the industry, so I was able to steer her correctly through her future and show her how to be professional."
Liv is close with her mom
The Leftovers actress proudly posts birthday messages and throwback pictures of her mom.
When she was little, Liv even took part in some of her mom's photo shoots. "Happy happy birthday my darling mommy !!!!!!!!!! @realbebebuell ?? our greatest shoot ever !!!!! I love you," she wrote in 2017 alongside a black-and-white throwback photo.
Buell has shared the love right back. "Celebrating my beloved family & those who have become family. My support … my angels?? … I love ?? you! ??????," she captioned a slideshow that started with photos of her daughter and her mother in honor of International Women's Day in 2023.
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