Bette Midler has slammed Ariana Grande's "silly high voice".

She said: "It's terrible! It's always surprising to see someone like Ariana Grande with that silly high voice, slithering around on a couch, looking so ridiculous. I mean, it's silly beyond belief and I don't know who's telling her to do it. I wish they'd stop. But it's not my business, I'm not her mother. Or her manager.

"Maybe they tell them that's what you've got to do. Sex sells. Sex has always sold."

The 'Wind Beneath My Wings' singer - who has won three Grammy Awards and been nominated for two Academy Awards - insisted young female pop stars should be told they don't need to be so scantily-clad in their music videos because they can sell songs without taking their clothes off.

When asked what advice she would give young girls who are hoping to become a pop star, the 'Beaches' star told the Daily Telegraph newspaper: "Trust your talent. You don't have to make a wh**e out of yourself to get ahead. You really don't.

"I mean, don't ask me. It's beyond me. I'm too old.

"I don't know what the end game is going to be. I don't know where you go from all that sex in your twenties. I don't know how you sustain it."