As a child, Liv Tyler’s nightly routine included tucking in her teddy bears and having a chat with the poster of Steven Tyler, the Aerosmith frontman, that was hanging on the wall over her bed.
She didn’t know he was her father, but she still “loved him so deeply.” When she turned nine, Liv learned some startling news that would rock her world.
Keep reading to learn about the actress’s incredible real-life story.
Liv Tyler, now 47, broke into the scene in the 1990’s with starring roles in films like Stealing Beauty (1996) Empire Records (1995), 1988’s Armageddon – featuring Aerosmith’s hit song “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing.”
Before earning her own fame, the singer, model and actor spent her childhood piecing together the puzzling paternity of her father, whom she first believed was singer-songwriter Todd Rundgren, of the band Utopia.
Her mother Bebe Buell, Playboy’s Playmate of November 1974’s, was living with Rundgren in their New York City apartment. She was frequently left alone while he went on tour.
Buell, crediting the wave of non-monogamy through the 1970’s for her multiple affairs, said in an interview, “I think every little girl would like exclusivity, but that wasn’t how it was. If you had a jealous streak, the 70s wasn’t your era. And I figured if he (Rundgren) was going to date, I would date, too. I had lovely boyfriends.”
An archetypical groupie, Buell dated music legends like Elvis Costello, Mick Jagger, David Bowie, Iggy Pop, Jimmy Page, and Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, whom she met while Rundgren was touring.
Lifetime gift
It was in 1976 when her fling with Tyler left Buell with a lifetime keepsake.
Liv Rundgren was born in July 1977 and though Rundgren knew she was likely Tyler’s child, he said that him and Buell made a pact that he would be Liv’s father, and “if it ever became an issue, we’d tell her at 18.”
The decision to keep it a secret was made to not expose an impressionable young Liv to her biological father’s out-of-control addictions.
Rundgren signed her birth certificate, gave her his last name, and raised her like his own.
The actress said of Rundgren, “I’m so grateful to Todd for choosing to be a father figure to me. 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.”
Shirley Temple
Heavily immersed in the music world, the Jersey Girl star was frequently around her parents’ friends.
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At one of Rundgren’s concerts, when she was about eight or nine, she met Tyler, whom she said bought her a Shirley Temple at the bar. She had no idea who he was at the time, but that meeting struck something inside her.
“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. I would talk to him on the wall. And he would give me stuffed animals, and I would tuck them into bed before I would get in. I loved him so deeply,” Liv said. “My mom has a diary entry or something where I wrote, ‘I think Steven is my father.’”
The bizarre mystery was starting to unfold for the young Liv.
It was at an Aerosmith concert when she saw Mia, Tyler’s daughter with Cyrinda Foxe, who was born one year after the actress herself.
“I saw her standing at the side of the stage at a concert and I was literally like looking at my twin,” the Lord of the Rings Trilogy star told the Guardian.
Siblings meet
Speaking on an episode of the iHeart radio podcast, “Sibling Revelry With Kate Hudson and Oliver Hudson,” Mia and Liv shared the emotional moment at the concert where Guns n’ Roses were opening for Aerosmith.
“It was the beginning of their song ‘Welcome to the Jungle.’ [Liv and Buell] had driven to the gig at a place called Great Woods,” Liv started.
Choking back her tears, she continued, “We got tickets, and we went to the audience, and we were standing, and Guns n’ Roses was playing and I was so excited because I just like loved Guns n’ Roses. And on the side of the stage was this one girl standing there.”
“Like we literally had the same outfit on. We had both had perms, like spiral perms, pink frosty lipstick. We were both wearing an Aerosmith concert t-shirt with black leggings and Reebok high top sneakers.
“I looked and I was like, ‘wait, that’s me.’ It was really weird. I was literally like looking in the mirror seeing double,” she said.
“I looked at my mom, and she just started crying. My mom was bawling, and I was like, ‘is Steven my dad?’ and she just burst. She took me to a bench, and we sat on at an outdoor amphitheater, and she told me the whole story in the most sincere, beautiful way.”
The mom of three is still very close with both fathers, whom she says “are like unicorns or wizards. 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.”
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