The Wild Past Of Bebe Buell, The Mother Of Steven Tyler's Daughter Liv
Bebe Buell is best known today for her link to Steven Tyler thanks to the unusual paternity story of their famous daughter, Liv Tyler. Buell's relationship with the Aerosmith frontman was short-lived, but it lasted long enough to produce Liv, born in July 1977. But Steven didn't meet Liv until she was 11, when he ran into his ex-fling and her daughter at a concert. The artist on stage was Todd Rundgren, who Liv believed was her father. Even though the future "Lord of the Rings" actor was just a kid, she figured out what was going on.
Liv straight up asked Buell if Steven was her biological father, and the model and singer confirmed it. The girl took the news surprisingly well. "So I now have two fathers. I am very happy with that," she recalled in a 2009 interview with Hello! Magazine. Liv and Steven developed a close relationship, while she maintained a strong bond with Rundgren, who helped raise her. "I'm so grateful to him, I have so much love for him. You know, when he holds me it feels like Daddy," she told Wonderland in 2011.
In hindsight, Liv believes her reaction was a form of self-preservation. "As a child I didn't understand why that would happen — how that could happen," she told The Telegraph in 2008. What happened was the rock scene her parent figures belonged to. In those circles and in that time, the rocker lifestyle didn't exactly embrace monogamy. And Buell, by her own admission, was a "wild child."
Bebe Buell is famous for her legendary lovers
Bebe Buell had been with Todd Rundgren since 1972. She loved him, but their lifestyle soon proved to be an issue. "Any dreams of exclusivity went out the window," she wrote in her 2022 memoir "Rebel Soul: Musings, Music, & Magic" (via Fox News). They continued to be in each other's lives — but so were other people. "[Infidelity came] with the rock star territory, or at least that's what it felt like," she contended.
During and shortly after their on-again, off-again relationship, Buell had flings with some of the most prominent figures in rock history: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones, Rod Stewart, Jimmy Page of the Led Zeppelin, Elvis Costello, and, of course, Steven Tyler, just to name a few. Rundgren also enjoyed his fair share of affairs, but his girlfriends weren't as high-profile. "Todd would always be f***ing these nondescript road tramps," she harshly described in her 2001 memoir "Rebel Heart: An American Rock 'n' Roll Journey" (via Salon).
For her involvement with rockers, Buell has been described as a groupie, having served as one of the inspirations for the 2000 film "Almost Famous." But Buell dislikes the term because she wasn't simply following rock stars around — she was also a musician. "I was a fashion model who, yes, dated very interesting and fascinating men. But music had been there from the very beginning," she told Fox News. She fit in. But her priorities changed after her daughter Liv came along.
Bebe Buell wanted to protect Liv from Steven Tyler's drug use
When Bebe Buell discovered her pregnancy in 1976, she had been traveling across Europe with Aerosmith. In his 2018 memoir, "The Individualist: Digressions, Dreams and Dissertations," Todd Rundgren wrote that Buell told him the baby was his. "I got the call. Pregnant again, she said," referring to a previous miscarriage they had experienced. "Not Steven, she said," he continued (via Variety). But Buell has a different version.
She and Rundgren had been on a break for over two months, so he knew it wasn't his, she told Fox News. According to Buell, Rundgren wanted her to return. "He took me back because he chose to. Because he loved me," she said. Buell opted to keep Steven out of the picture to protect Liv Tyler from his drug use, The Telegraph noted. And Rundgren was on board. "We made a pact that he would be Liv's father and if it ever became an issue, we'd tell her at 18," Buell told Rolling Stone in 2018.
Buell wanted to raise Liv in a positive environment, but had a hard time at first. When Liv was three months old, Buell asked her family to care for her daughter. Liv lived with her aunt and uncle for three years and then with her grandparents for a bit. "I was definitely sad and angry that I didn't have this Perfect Mommy thing," Liv told Wonderland. "But now I have a lot of empathy for her."