The Untold Truth Of Barbra Streisand

Although she's one of the richest and most famous celebrities in the world today, Barbra Streisand began her life as a poor kid in Brooklyn, NY. Her father, Emanuel Streisand, had sadly died when she was just 15 months old, leaving her to be raised by her mother, Diana Streisand.

"I grew up in Williamsburg until I was 7, and that was a $40-a-month apartment," Barbra told Oprah Winfrey. "I lived in one room with my mother, in the same bed, and my brother had a foldaway cot in the same room." The future star and her family later moved to the projects, which she considered "hotsie totsie" at the time. Those experiences stuck with her throughout her life. "When you grow up poor, you're always poor in a sense," she added.

Despite her humble beginnings, the singer has some fond memories of childhood. "I love the fact that we didn't have any money," Barbra told W magazine in 2016, recalling a doll she made from a hot water bottle. "I love the fact that one has to use one's own imagination to have toys or whatever."

Barbra Streisand quickly made a name for herself on Broadway thanks to her role in the 1961 musical "I Can Get It For You Wholesale," which earned her a Tony nomination. Her performance paved the way for her starring role in the iconic 1964 musical "Funny Girl," a role she would later reprise in 1968 in her big-screen debut. But despite her immediate success on the Great White Way, Streisand wasn't exactly a huge fan of performing in live theater.

"After a while, I really didn't like having to do eight shows a week," she told W magazine. "That's why I've always wanted to be in the movies, because I thought, once you get the scene right, you never have to do it again. And then you could go to your own opening night, which you could never do when you're on the stage!" she said with a laugh. Streisand continued, "I liked doing 'Funny Girl,' but not 1,000 times. ... And since I'm a kind of anal-retentive perfectionist, I would give notes after each performance — even [on] the last night."

From an outsider's perspective, Barbra Streisand's transition from the stage to screen was met with remarkable success. Her very first movie role in 1968's "Funny Girl" won her the Academy Award for best actress. But as she tells it, not all of Hollywood welcomed her with open arms. 

"You see, I committed a sin when I came to Hollywood [in 1967] because I came with a contract for three pictures, and I had never had a screen test," Streisand explained to The Hollywood Reporter in 2015. "So if there is such a thing as envy or jealousy, everybody was like, 'Huh? Who is she?' I wasn't a proven factor. Nobody knew what I would look like onscreen or anything like that." 

Recalling how A-listers like Marlon Brando and John Wayne, as well as big-name producers and directors, attended a party thrown in her honor by producer Ray Stark around this time, Streisand admitted, "I was late because I was scared. I sat in a corner, and I wasn't charming."

Barbra Streisand has been accused of being difficult to work with, particularly as she transitioned from actor to director, beginning with 1983's "Yentl." By 1996, Streisand told The New York Times that she believed this reputation prompted directors such as Robert Zemeckis and Herbert Ross to turn down what eventually became her third directorial effort, "The Mirror Has Two Faces." 

Of course, Streisand is unfortunately far from the first or last woman to face these types of allegations in the entertainment industry. And while she has admitted to being tough and controlling, she became an activist for women in film following her experience with "Yentl." Arguing that the rumors that have plagued her are the result of sexism in Hollywood, she rhetorically asked The Hollywood Reporter in 2015, "What does 'difficult' mean anyway?" Streisand added, "If a man on a set says something — 'I want to change this shot' — they do whatever he says. Now, if a woman asks... ."

"We're just measured by a different standard," she continued. "He's 'committed.' She's 'obsessed.' It's been said that a man's reach should exceed his grasp. Why can't that be true of a woman?" Using the critical response to Angelina Jolie's "By the Sea" as a more recent example, Streisand noted, "They call it her 'vanity production,' because she's doing the jobs I did. But [if a man does it], it's, 'How brilliant. He's multifaceted, he's multitalented, a multihyphenate.'"

Although she once claimed that reports about her firing multiple people from her movies were wildly exaggerated, Barbra Streisand has axed at least one famous face in her career — at least, according to actor Chris O'Donnell.

In 2016, the "NCIS: Los Angeles" star recalled an incident from his youth in which Streisand allegedly called his dorm room at Boston College to explain that the then-sophomore had been fired from "The Prince of Tides," in which he was meant to play her onscreen son. "It was very funny," he began to explain to Andy Cohen on "Watch What Happens Live" (so clearly, there are no hard feelings). "... I was living with some random people I didn't know very well, and I hadn't told anyone I had been making films because I wanted to know everybody without being the guy who made the films." Recalling how he'd just come back from the library, O'Donnell continued, "My roommate goes, 'Oh hey, D, uh, Barbra Streisand called you.' I go, 'Okay man, thanks.' He goes, 'What's up with that?' And I go, 'What'd they say?' 'She's calling back tomorrow at 1 o'clock.' And so the entire hall was waiting to answer the phone."

For her part, Streisand actually revealed years earlier why she'd decided to recast O'Donnell's role with her real-life son: Jason Gould had personally requested to play the part. "He never asks for anything," she told TV Guide in 2000. "... So I hired Jason and literally paid off O'Donnell."

Barbra Streisand has been married twice, first to actor Elliott Gould. He was 25, and she just 21, when they tied the knot in 1963. They welcomed their son, Jason Gould, before eventually divorcing in 1971. Speaking with the Independent in 2012, Gould admitted that he'd struggled with Streisand's stratospheric fame and her relentless devotion to her career. "It was difficult to be married to someone who was married to their success," he said. Noting that their youth also played a part in their breakup, the "Friends" star added, "We went as far as we could together."

These days, however, Streisand's happily married to actor James Brolin, whom she met in the '90s on a blind date. "I met him at a dinner and expected a bearded mountain-man type, and he had cut off all his hair and was clean-shaven," she later told W magazine. "I asked him, 'Who screwed up your hair?' He later told me that's when he fell in love with me. My fella likes to hear the truth, which is unusual."

The two proved to be inseparable, eventually prompting Streisand to walk down the aisle a second time; the couple said "I do" in 1998.

In November 2023, Barbra Streisand unveiled a very personal project that had long been in the works: her memoir "My Name Is Barbra," which had taken her 10 years to write. 

As fans discovered, this was no ghost-written cash grab, hitting career high points and recalling familiar anecdotes, but a starkly personal deep dive into her life, from her painful childhood to the heights of stardom. The book, she told BBC News, was her way of setting the record straight, correcting inaccurate things that had been written about her over the years and serving as the defining document about all things Barbra. "It was the only way to have some control over my life," Streisand explained. "This is my legacy. I wrote my story. I don't have to do any more interviews after this."

Not only is the book exhaustive, it's also long — like, 992 pages long. And while many celebs enlist others to narrate the audiobook versions (Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards' memoir "Life," for example, was famously read by Johhny Depp and Joe Hurley), Streisand chose to do the heavy lifting herself. The result is an epic audiobook that takes 48 hours and 14 minutes to get through. As Variety pointed out, the audiobook version not only allows listeners to hear Streisand tell her own story, but there's also some bonus material in the form of additional anecdotes that aren't in the book, along with snippets of the music she writes about.

Upon the death of his mother, Queen Elizabeth II, King Charles III ascended to the throne of England. Had things taken a different turn, however, Barbra Streisand might have been by his side as the future queen of England. 

As she wrote in her "My Name Is Barbra" memoir (via an excerpt shared by Insider), she met then-Prince Charles back in 1974, when he visited Warner Bros. Studios. "The prince was utterly charming when he came to the studio," Streisand, who'd been in a recording session for "Funny Lady" at the time, wrote. While they hit it off, she added, "Frankly, it's hard to have a real conversation when you're surrounded by 50 photographers snapping pictures." Streisand continued, "I was drinking tea and offered him a sip ... and the future king of England actually drank from my cup, which was apparently unprecedented. When the British press reported on this, they turned it into the equivalent of an international incident." 

That meeting came to spark a decades-long friendship that extended to the present, with Charles and Streisand remaining in touch over the years. As she wrote in her book, however, there was one piece of information that Streisand didn't have when they met that could have potentially altered the trajectory of that relationship. "I was told that Charles has said I was his 'only pinup' (apparently he had a poster of me in his room at Cambridge), and he described me as 'devastatingly attractive' with 'great sex appeal.' Who knew?" she wrote.

Not only could Barbra Streisand potentially have become the Queen of England, she also had a shot at being the spouse of a head of state: Pierre Trudeau, the late prime minister of Canada (whose son, Justin Trudeau, went on to hold the same office). In an excerpt from her memoir appearing in People, the singer wrote about her short-lived romance with the elder Trudeau, whom she first met at the London premiere of 1968's "Funny Girl" movie.

"Trudeau was very dapper, intelligent, intense ... kind of a combination of Albert Einstein and Napoleon (only taller). And he was doing important work," Streisand wrote. "I was dazzled." Of their dynamic, she added, "It was nice to be with a man who had his own light shining on him, so I could stay in the shadows a bit." According to Streisand, she and Pierre went on to make several trips to visit each other, including the time she met him in the Canadian capital of Ottawa, where she watched in horror from beneath the warmth of a fur coat as he rolled around in snow after skinny-dipping in a frigid lake. 

Ultimately, Streisand admitted she had a tough time getting over their considerable age gap (Pierre was 23 years her senior), but she conceded that this wasn't the only issue. Noting that "there was something missing," she wrote, "My brain was in love, but not my body." Nevertheless, while the romance didn't last long, Streisand and Pierre Trudeau's friendship lasted until his 2000 death.

Looking back at Barbra Streisand's career in the rearview mirror, it seems inevitable that she'd eventually become a movie director. Writing in her memoir, Streisand recalled how, while making her first film "Funny Girl," she displayed some directorial instincts by making filmmaking suggestions for certain scenes. Having initially lip-synced to her recorded version of "My Man," as per movie-musical tradition, she even requested the chance to film the scene again after production had wrapped, this time while singing live.

"Although I didn't realize it at the time, I was thinking like a director," Streisand wrote (via USA Today), recalling that she became engrossed in understanding the big-picture elements of the film. "How does that scene pertain to the next one? Does that moment serve the story?" she noted. What Streisand saw as genuine curiosity about the filmmaking process, however, was seen by others as a grasp for control. "But I guess some people had a hard time with a woman who had opinions, and word went out that I was taking over," she added. 

Luckily, her actual collaborators welcomed her feedback — and "Funny Girl" director William Wyler later presented Streisand with a director's megaphone on which was imprinted, "Barbra Streisand DGA," the initials of the Directors Guild of America. "I was so thrilled that he thought enough of my ideas to give me such an inspiring gift, encouraging me to direct," she wrote of Wyler's gesture. "It was funny and prophetic and it's one of my most prized possessions."

Over the course of a showbiz career that's in its seventh decade, as of this writing, Barbra Streisand has achieved everything she'd ever dreamed of ... almost. The one project she's been trying to get off the ground for years is a film adaptation of the musical "Gypsy," in which she would direct and star as Mama Rose, arguably one of Broadway's juiciest roles. In fact, as far back as 2011, a source told The Hollywood Reporter that Streisand was "seriously engaged in the idea of doing it." In 2016, Variety reported that Barry Levinson was attached to direct, while Streisand would star. 

Appearing on "The Howard Stern Show" in November 2023, Streisand revealed that one reason she wrote her "My Name Is Barbra" memoir is that she wasn't able to make two movies she'd been passionate about; "Gypsy" was one. "I wanted to end my career playing Gypsy," she said. "... And now, because I wanted to direct it, and I could see every frame." It was the musical's lyricist, the late Stephen Sondheim, who was insistent that pal and former collaborator Streisand would be biting off more than she could chew if she both directed and starred. "He said, 'You either direct the movie, or you act in it. But you can't do both.'" Streisand, who'd done just that — very successfully, and more than once — was understandably crushed.

However, Streisand remained circumspect about the one that got way. "There are things in life that you can't have," she mused.

One of the more apocryphal legends about Barbra Streisand holds that she has her own private mall in the basement of her Malibu mansion. As it turns out, that particular bit of lore is actually true. The small mall features several faux shops devoted to antiques and memorabilia, including one that displays all the various costumes that Streisand has worn on screen and stage over the years.

In a November 2023 segment on "The Late Show," host Stephen Colbert paid a visit to Streisand's home, where she took him on a tour that included the subterranean mall. "Few people have had the chance to see the replica shopping mall she's built to display her vast antique collection," Colbert said in a voiceover, accompanying shots of her mall, which Streisand insisted is a misnomer. 

"It's a little tiny mall, if you want to say," she told Colbert. In addition to a gift shop, another of the shops, Bee's Doll Shop, features Streisand's expansive array of antique dolls. "Did you think about calling it Hello, Dolly?" Colbert quipped. "I did not," responded Streisand with a hearty laugh.