Streisand found new love unexpectedly
She has famously dated a string of leading men, including Pierre Trudeau, but Barbra Streisand has revealed that it was her unexpected romance with James Brolin that set her on the path to marital bliss.
Coming on the heels of her bravura performance at last weekend’s Oscars, the suddenly in-demand entertainer tells a British newspaper she is thoroughly enjoying life with Brolin, whom she married 15 years ago.
Streisand told the Independent she had all but given up on finding lasting love when she met Brolin.
“Sometimes love comes when you don’t try so hard,” the Funny Girl diva said.
She was just 20 years old when she first got married, to fellow actor Elliott Gould, a union that lasted eight years and produced son Jason Gould, now 46.
In the years after her divorce, the Brooklyn-born artist dated the former Canadian prime minister as well as actors Ryan O’Neal, Liam Neeson, Don Johnson and Kris Kristofferson, tennis player Andre Agassi and former hairstylist Jon Peters.
In the interview with the Independent, Streisand explained how she met Brolin, whose son Josh recently split with actress Diane Lane.
“I was editing my last movie (Mirror Has Two Faces) when I was supposed to meet Jim on a blind-date thing. I had a night shift because I like to work into the wee small hours of the night, and I said to my editors, ‘Stay here. I’m just going in to town for a dinner party and then I’ll come back and work.’
“I think Jim had the same feeling before he met me like, oh my God, what am I doing? But we got along great and talked about architecture and relationships.
“I said, I have to go back to work. No, he says, I’m going to take you home. And that was it. I wasn’t looking for a man. It’s too hard to date and see if you have chemistry. But then it all fell into place.”
Streisand says the anchor in her life when she was navigating singledom was her son Jason, who convinced her to take on her first film role in 16 years as the neurotic mother in the Seth Rogen comedy, The Guilt Trip.
“He was very important in my decision to make The Guilt Trip,” she told writer Gill Pringle, “because he was in bed recovering from back surgery when I brought the script over.
“It was interesting because actually his father was in the room, too. Isn’t that funny? So we were both there, coddling our son, and Jason said, ‘I think you should do it, mom.’ I really trust his integrity and his opinion. He has great taste, and whatever he chooses to do, it’s amazing, so he clinched the deal.”
Streisand also admits to a little mothering guilt of her own.
“When I was working a lot, I felt guilty as a parent,” she explained. “I couldn’t pick up my son every day from school, bake him cookies and that kind of thing. So I know that feeling a lot, where you try to compensate and everything they do is great. But children sense that guilt, and they’re going through their own rebellious times or whatever.”
She added: “Sometimes you resent the people you love and need the most. Love is so fascinating in all its forms, and I think everyone who has ever been a mother will relate to this.”
The 70- year- old Babs, who won a best-actress Oscar in 1968 for Funny Girl, seems untroubled by the indifferent reviews for The Guilt Trip. “I trust my manager of 50 years,” she said. “Other than that, it’s hard to choose between my husband and my son. I don’t like to be ‘schmuckled.’ Do you know what that means? Schmuckled is a great Yiddish expression which means smeared. I prefer the truth.”
Her rendition of The Way We Were at this year’s Oscars was her first performance on the Academy Awards stage in 36 years — and drew a standing ovation.
Among her admirers was Skyfall singer Adele, who admitted she was a bundle of nerves when she first met Streisand at an Oscars afterparty — and an emotional wreck as Streisand belted out the theme song from her 1973 film of the same name.
“I was dying! I was crying!” Adele told E! Online.