Current:Home > NewsBarbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl" -Mastery Money Tools
Barbra Streisand details how her battle with stage fright dates back to experience in "Funny Girl"
View
Date:2025-04-18 08:40:47
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! (6)
Related
- Rylee Arnold Shares a Long
- Inter Miami vs. Real Salt Lake highlights: Messi doesn't score, but still shows off in win
- Kentucky's second-half defensive collapse costly in one-point road loss to LSU
- Kim Kardashian’s New SKIMS Swimwear Collection Is Poolside Perfection With Many Coverage Options
- Senate begins final push to expand Social Security benefits for millions of people
- How to watch Dodgers vs. Padres MLB spring training opener: Time, TV channel
- North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota says he’s seeking reelection
- Wisconsin Potawatomi leader calls for bipartisanship in State of Tribes speech
- How to watch the 'Blue Bloods' Season 14 finale: Final episode premiere date, cast
- One Year Later, Pennsylvanians Living Near the East Palestine Train Derailment Site Say They’re Still Sick
Ranking
- Don't let hackers fool you with a 'scam
- Amazon to join the Dow Jones index, while Walgreens gets the boot. Here's what that means for investors.
- Youngkin, Earle-Sears join annual anti-abortion demonstration in Richmond
- Gabby Petito’s Parents Reach Settlement With Brian Laundrie’s Family in Civil Lawsuit
- Are Instagram, Facebook and WhatsApp down? Meta says most issues resolved after outages
- North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer of North Dakota says he’s seeking reelection
- Inquiry into Pablo Neruda's 1973 death reopened by Chile appeals court
- What Black women's hair taught me about agency, reinvention and finding joy
Recommendation
Newly elected West Virginia lawmaker arrested and accused of making terroristic threats
Behold, the Chizza: A new pizza-inspired fried chicken menu item is debuting at KFC
Woman's body found on Arkansas roadside 'partially decomposed' in plastic bag: Reports
As NBA playoffs approach, these teams face an uphill battle
Jamie Foxx reps say actor was hit in face by a glass at birthday dinner, needed stitches
Mudslides shut down portions of California's Pacific Coast Highway after heavy rainfall
Alabama looks to perform second execution of inmate with controversial nitrogen hypoxia
LA ethics panel rejects proposed fine for ex-CBS exec Les Moonves over police probe interference