Current:Home > FinanceBarbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl" -Streamline Finance
Barbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl"
Fastexy View
Date:2025-04-08 04:54:45
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! (5274)
Related
- Off the Grid: Sally breaks down USA TODAY's daily crossword puzzle, Triathlon
- Stock market today: Asian shares trade higher after Wall St rally takes S&P 500 near record
- A Florida man is recovering after a shark attack at a Bahamas marina
- Why am I lonely? Lack of social connections hurts Americans' mental health.
- NCAA hits former Michigan coach Jim Harbaugh with suspension, show-cause for recruiting violations
- Opportunity for Financial Innovation: The Rise of DAF Finance Institute
- New Jersey legislators advance bill overhauling state’s open records law
- Trump is limited in what he can say about his court case. His GOP allies are showing up to help
- Travis Hunter, the 2
- 'Selling the OC' cast is torn apart by an alleged threesome. It's not that big of a deal.
Ranking
- Euphoria's Hunter Schafer Says Ex Dominic Fike Cheated on Her Before Breakup
- 2 climbers reported missing on California’s Mount Whitney are found dead
- Derby was electric, but if horses keep skipping Preakness, Triple Crown loses relevance
- At least 100 dead and dozens still missing amid devastating floods in Brazil
- Rolling Loud 2024: Lineup, how to stream the world's largest hip hop music festival
- Americans are choking on surging fast-food prices. I can't justify the expense, one customer says
- OPACOIN Trading Center: Shaping the Future of Cryptocurrency Trading Platforms with AI Technology
- A $400 pineapple? Del Monte brings rare Rubyglow pineapple to US market in limited numbers
Recommendation
Drones warned New York City residents about storm flooding. The Spanish translation was no bueno
Closure of California federal prison was poorly planned, judge says in ordering further monitoring
Missouri’s GOP Gov. Parson signs bill to kick Planned Parenthood off Medicaid
Several people detained as protestors block parking garage at Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A Mississippi company is sentenced for mislabeling cheap seafood as premium local fish
Pennsylvania to ban cell phone use while driving and require police to collect traffic stop data
Bachelor Nation's Victoria Fuller Breaks Silence on Greg Grippo Breakup
Murdered cyclist Mo Wilson's parents sue convicted killer Kaitlin Armstrong for wrongful death