Current:Home > ScamsBarbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl" -Secure Growth Solutions
Barbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl"
View
Date:2025-04-23 09:36:55
Despite her celebrated career, Barbra Streisand said that her performances have been shadowed by a fear of forgetting her lines — a fear that took root during her early days in Broadway's "Funny Girl."
She said the off-script, on-stage behavior of her "Funny Girl" co-star Sydney Chaplin, Charlie Chaplin's son, drove her into therapy and instilled a deep-seated anxiety about live performances.
"He kept talking to me on stage under his breath. Not looking at me in the eyes. You know, looking, like, at my forehead or my hair or something. And talking. Like a crazy person," she told "CBS Mornings" co-host Gayle King.
"And it was driving me insane," she said. "That threw me so off that I thought, 'What, what am I, what is my next line?'"
"I never lost that, that fear of performing, fear of forgetting my lines," Streisand said.
The Oscar-winning actress and singer details her anxiety in her new memoir "My Name Is Barbra," which is being released on Tuesday. Her struggle with stage fright was so intense that after forgetting lyrics during a 1967 concert in Central Park, Streisand avoided public performances for nearly three decades.
Her new book also details her childhood. With the loss of her father when she was just 15 months old and facing discouragement from her mother, she credits her pursuit of acting as a way to find a sense of belonging and love.
"Even though my mother said, 'You'll never make it as an actress. You know, you're not pretty enough,' or whatever, I thought, because I used to read movie magazines, right, and kind of dream, 'Is it, wouldn't it be wonderful?'" she said.
Her dreams and dedication have indeed paid off. Streisand's Malibu home has been personally curated, from her legendary garden to what she calls "the mall," featuring unique shops and an antique clothes room.
"I'm so finicky, and when I love something, I don't care how much it costs," she said.
Streisand recently celebrated her 25-year marriage to actor James Brolin, who said he asked Streisand to marry him three times before she agreed.
And Brolin shared a personal detail about their early relationship: "I had been literally — it's a wild word, but I had been celibate for three years saying, 'Who needs this?'" After two previous marriages, he said he wanted to avoid "getting involved in a lousy situation."
During an anniversary celebration, Brolin read her a letter, saying, "You know someone is right for you if you love to be with them all the time. And when I go, when I finally go, I will love you then."
"Home is not a place. Home is a person," he added.
As for who could play Streisand in a potential future film, she suggested she doesn't want to think about it yet.
"I don't know of anyone who can," she said.
- In:
- Barbra Streisand
veryGood! (41776)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Hi Hi!
- Kristin Cavallari Reveals Why She Broke Up With Mark Estes
- What are enzymes, and what do they have to do with digestion?
- California governor signs law banning college legacy and donor admissions
- Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
- Is it time to buy an AI-powered Copilot+ PC?
- Will Levis injury update: Titans QB hurts shoulder vs. Dolphins
- Sam Schmidt opens paralysis center in Indianapolis to rehabilitate trauma victims
- Meet the volunteers risking their lives to deliver Christmas gifts to children in Haiti
- Why was Pete Rose banned for life from MLB? Gambling on games was his downfall
Ranking
- Federal court filings allege official committed perjury in lawsuit tied to Louisiana grain terminal
- RHONY's Brynn Whitfield Shares Baby Plans and Exact Motherhood Timeline
- Katy Perry wears zippered bag dress to Balenciaga's Paris Fashion Week show
- Princess Beatrice, husband Edoardo Mapelli Mozzi expecting second child
- Why Sean "Diddy" Combs Is Being Given a Laptop in Jail Amid Witness Intimidation Fears
- Proof Gabourey Sidibe’s 5-Month-Old Twin Babies Are Growing “So Big So Fast”
- Pennsylvania county manager sued over plans to end use of drop boxes for mail-in ballots
- Dad traveled miles on foot through Hurricane Helene's damage to walk daughter down aisle
Recommendation
Former Syrian official arrested in California who oversaw prison charged with torture
NYC mayor deflects questions about bribery charges as a potential witness speaks outside City Hall
Harris will tour Helene devastation in Georgia, North Carolina as storm scrambles campaign schedule
Opinion: Chappell Roan doesn't owe you an explanation for her non-endorsement of Harris
Friday the 13th luck? 13 past Mega Millions jackpot wins in December. See top 10 lottery prizes
Helene's flooding flattens Chimney Rock, NC: 'Everything along the river is gone'
Watchdog blasts DEA for not reporting waterboarding, torture by Latin American partners
Wildfires in California have burned 1 million acres so far this year. Heat wave poses more risk