Barbra Streisand in 2018.Photo:Pari Dukovic/Trunk Archive
Pari Dukovic/Trunk Archive
Nine hundred and ninety-two pages may seem a hefty weight for a memoir, but when you consider all the livesBarbra Streisandhas lived, it makes sense.
With her signature wit and the unflinchingly honest acceptance that hindsight is sometimes 20/20, Streisand digs deep into her past, detailing everything from the Brooklyn childhood she spent yearning to please her mother, to her big Broadway break and award-winning turns in films likeFunny Girl,A Star Is BornandThe Way We Were.
There’s also, of course, musings on her personal life, including high-profile romances and dalliances with stars likeMarlon Brando, ex-husbandElliott Gould(with whom she shares sonJason Gould, 56) and former Canadian Prime MinisterPierre Trudeau— which all eventually paved the way for her to find everlasting love withJames Brolin, herhusband of 25 years.
Here, on her own terms, Streisand spills all on both her reel and real life.
Prologue
Barbra Streisand during the special Color Me Barbra in 1966.CBS Photo Archive via Getty
CBS Photo Archive via Getty
Sometimes it felt like my nose got more press than I did. In the cover story inTimemagazine, the writer said, “This nose is a shrine.” (Sounds good!) Then he went on, “The face it divides is long and sad, and the look in repose is the essence of hound.” (Not so good.)
Probably both (depending on the angle).
Chapter 3 -This Night Could Change My Life
No. It was too much of a risk. And who knew what it might do to my voice?
Once a doctor told me I had a deviated septum . . . maybe that’s why I sound the way I do. Besides, I liked long noses . . . the Italian actress Silvana Mangano had one, and everyone seemed to think she was beautiful.
Chapter 7 -It All Comes Together
Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland on The Judy Garland Show in 1963.Mediapunch/Shutterstock
Mediapunch/Shutterstock
People were looking for some sort of rivalry between us. And when they couldn’t find anything, they made it up. I found Judy to be completely generous. We sang a medley of songs, taking turns, and she wasn’t just focused on herself. She watched me and responded to me. She would reach out and brush back a strand of my hair, like a mother. And Judy’s own daughter, Liza Minnelli, says that her mother’s first reaction on hearing me sing was to say, “I’m never going to open my mouth again.” She was like that, very self‑deprecating. And deeply vulnerable.
Judy and I became friends. We spoke on the phone, and she came to one of the rare parties I gave at my New York apartment (four in thirty‑five years). I think she arrived late. And I remember her saying something I never quite understood: “Don’t let them do to you what they did to me.” I should have asked her what she meant, but I didn’t want to appear too nosy.
Six years after we did [The Judy Garland Show], she was dead at the age of forty‑seven.
What a tragedy . . . and such a loss. She was an extraordinary talent.
Barbra Streisand and son Jason Gould in 2017.
Immediately I thought of her eldest son. “Did Jeff get some girl pregnant?”
“No, it’s you!”
“What??!!!”
I had completely forgotten that I had taken a rabbit test with a friend of Cis’s . . . the comedian Jonathan Miller’s wife, Rachel, who was also a doctor. This test is how they used to determine if you were pregnant (but why was a rabbit involved?), and it took a week to get the results. Cis, Elliott, and Gracie all knew, but they deliberately waited to tell me until after the pressure of opening night.
How amazing. I was so happy! I finally felt normal for once!
Chapter 18 -Brando
Marlon Brando in 1966.Everett
Everett
About three hours into the conversation, he looked into my eyes and said, “I’d like to f— you.”
I was taken aback. “That sounds awful,” I said.
After a moment of thought, he said, “Okay. Then I’d like to go to a museum with you.”
“Now that’s very romantic. I’d like that.” He’d hit on a fantasy of mine . . . to walk through a museum with someone I was very attracted to and look at great art . . . exploring it together.
Then I remembered his wife in the other room. “What about Tarita? Why did you marry her?” Marlon and I didn’t mince words.
He looked toward the other room and said, after thinking about it, “She’s like a ripe piece of fruit.”
The thing is, I knew exactly what he meant. She was luscious, but was that enough?
We talked about marriage . . . relationships. And then out of the blue he said something that shocked me.
“I don’t think you’re going to be with Elliott much longer.” I was taken aback. “I’m married to him. What do you mean?” “He’s not good‑looking enough for you."
Chapter 17 -Hello, Dolly!
Barbra Streisand in Hello, Dolly! in 1969.20th Century-Fox/Getty
20th Century-Fox/Getty
I tried to talk him out of it. I asked him why he wasn’t hiring Carol Channing, and he told me that he had seen footage fromThoroughly Modern Millieand felt her personality was just too big for the screen. So even if I didn’t take the role, there was no way he was going to hire her. Believe me, I wanted him to give it to Carol!
I told him that I thought the story would be more poignant if Dolly was an older woman, lonely after her husband’s death and grasping at what could be her last chance to marry again. He listened politely and pointed out that a woman could become a widow at any age. He said he was sure I could be as poignant as anyone, and he knew I could bring out the comedy in the script. And he couldn’t wait to hear me sing the score.
Chapter 54 -Jim
James Brolin and Barbra Streisand.FREDERICK M. BROWN/AFP via Getty
FREDERICK M. BROWN/AFP via Getty
Deep down, I, too, wanted romance, but I had let my work take over. I tended to use work as a substitute for relationships.
Jim and I met at a point in my life when I had basically given up on finding someone. And frankly, I was all right with being on my own. I had my son, I had great friends to keep me company, my work was fulfilling, and I loved my new house in Malibu overlooking the ocean.
Maybe you have to be happy with yourself before you can be happy with someone else. …
I think the real reason our relationship has endured is that we’re both willing to work at it. Jim and I are very different. As he’s said to me, “You’re an expert at looking for what’s wrong, while I’m just happy to wake up in the morning.” (He’ll live much longer than me. He keeps saying he’s going to live to be 100, and recently upped it to 110. He probably will, with that attitude.)
Chapter 56 -Giving Back
On a side note, this was the first time I felt the effect of Hollywood’s unequal pay scale for men and women. I didn’t ask what the other actors were making, but I was definitely hurt when I found out that Dustin was getting three times as much as me, plus a tiny percentage, which is significant on a movie that made $520 million. I was given some excuse about how I had been the last to sign, but the only thing that made me feel better was when my dear friend Ron Meyer, who was the head of Universal, gave me a bonus . . . the first and only time I ever got one. I guess he, too, thought it was unfair.
Celebrate Barbra Streisand’s incredible career with the new PEOPLE Special EditionBarbra Streisand,available on newsstands andAmazon.com.
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source: people.com
