4pm... it’s time for Barbra’s breakfast
Superstar Streisand gets Champneys to switch to US time for week-long stay (and wait till you see what they did for her dog!)
IT SEEMS a little extreme, even in a world accustomed to superstars making outrageous demands to satisfy their whims.
When actress and singer Barbra Streisand visited the UK for a week, she asked the staff at a £1,500-a-night spa hotel to observe Los Angeles time – to help her avoid jet-lag.
The multi-Grammy and Oscar winner, 74, enjoyed breakfast at 4pm, lunch at about 9pm, followed by spa treatments, then had dinner delivered to her luxury suite at 2am.
Bev Strong, VIP booker at Champneys in Tring, Hertfordshire, where Streisand stayed, said: ‘She wanted to avoid jet-lag so asked that we observe American time. She had her treatments and personal training very late at night. ’
The superstar also asked Champneys to provide a hand-made box filled with freshly cut turf so her dog Samantha, a Coton de Tuléar, could go to the loo on the balcony outside her room.
Craftsmen also made bespoke wooden stairs to help Samantha climb up to her multi-millionaire owner’s bed.
Mrs Strong added: ‘ Her agent rang and was very specific. She didn’t want to be referred to as Mrs Streisand – she wanted to be known as Mrs Brolin, using her husband James’s surname.’
Streisand jetted in from her Malibu home with best friend, New York designer Donna Karan, for the trip in 2014.
The pair arrived at London Biggin Hill Airport in a private jet. A week later, they flew back to the States from Luton Airport.
Champneys beauty therapist Audrey Eustace, 64, said: ‘There was one day when Barbra was in the Jacuzzi and she broke into song. It was wonderful. Whatever people want, they can ask for. We do the best we can because it’s important.’
Calls to the star’s representatives went unreturned.