Here are four biggest revelations from the book.
1. Barbra Streisand’s unexpected connection with King Charles
Streisand first met the royal when he visited Los Angeles in 1974. Charles was apparently adamant that he meet her, and so he stopped for a brief visit at Warner Bros. Studios, where the star was recording music for her upcoming film Funny Lady.
“I was drinking tea and offered him a sip … and the future king of England actually drank from my cup, which was apparently unprecedented. When the British press reported on this, they turned it into the equivalent of an international incident,” Streisand recalled in her memoir.
Though they only met in person for the first time in 1974, the monarch’s interest in Streisand apparently started years earlier, when he was in university at Cambridge.
“I was told that Charles has said I was his ‘only pin-up’ (apparently he had a poster of me in his room at Cambridge), and he described me as ‘devastatingly attractive’ with ‘great sex appeal’. Who knew?” Streisand quipped in her memoir.
Streisand added her and Charles’ “extraordinary” friendship has lasted “decades”, and gave her the chance to visit Charles’ home, Highgrove, in 1995. Per the singer, the two also regularly exchange birthday cards (Charles recently sent a card with a hand-painted watercolour of his on the front) and gifts, and Streisand said she’s “so happy” he’s now king.
2. Her infamous 1969 Oscars outfit
Streisand said that she is “still horrified” by her wardrobe malfunction at the 1969 Oscars.
The night was a big moment in Streisand’s career as she won her first Oscar for her debut movie role as Fanny Brice in Funny Girl.
However, the outfit she chose for the ceremony became see-through underneath the bright lights of Los Angeles’ Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, where the awards took place.
Streisand wrote in her memoir that she struggled to choose between two outfits: “a long black Empire-style gown” and a “black net” pantsuit. She chose the pantsuit to “look more like the 26-year-old girl I am”.
Streisand said she didn’t know that her outfit was transparent under the lights in the building until after the ceremony. “The outfit was more talked about than the fact that I had won the Academy Award,” Streisand wrote.
“When I saw the footage on TV, I was horrified,” the Yentl star continued. “It looked as if I had nothing on underneath. (It was actually lined in nude georgette.) I was so embarrassed. And I’m still horrified, thinking about it now.”
Streisand wrote that her mother told her over the phone: “What kind of dress was that to wear in public?”
3. Princess Diana saved her from another wardrobe malfunction
The Way We Were star, 81, recalled a time when the “wonderful” royal, Princess Diana, both helped and flattered her during the 1992 London premiere of The Prince of Tides.
“The zipper on my skirt had come down a bit as I was sitting, and she noticed and quickly started to zip it up for me as I got to my feet,” the Egot winner, who starred in and helmed the Oscar-nominated film, wrote.
But Diana didn’t just help the Funny Girl star avoid a wardrobe malfunction.
“When I finally sat down, Diana turned to me and asked, ‘Do you know how wonderful you are?’” wrote Streisand. “Did I know it now? I’m not sure … maybe a little. I thought Diana was wonderful. I wonder if she knew how wonderful she was.”
4. The eerie warning Judy Garland gave her before dying of an overdose
According to Streisand, she and Garland became friends after Streisand was invited to perform a duet with the Wizard of Oz star on The Judy Garland Show, in spite of made-up rumours that the two had a rivalry.
Streisand and Garland regularly spoke on the phone. Streisand said Garland even came to one of the rare parties she hosted at her flat in New York.
“I think she arrived late. And I remember her saying something I never quite understood: ‘Don’t let them do to you what they did to me,’” Streisand recalled of the eerie advice Garland gave her.
She continued: “I should have asked her what she meant, but I didn’t want to appear too nosy.”
Garland died of an accidental overdose in 1969, six years after she and Streisand performed on The Judy Garland Show together.
According to Streisand, her “heart went out” to Garland, who struggled with her self-esteem and substance abuse throughout her career.
“Now, many years later, I understand. Somehow you become more scared as you get older,” Streisand wrote. “And the more successful you are, the more the pressure increases … there seem to be more people out there just waiting for you to fail.”
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