Entertainment

Barbra Streisand says she ‘wants to have more fun’ at 81

Barbra Streisand, American star of Broadway hit musical Funny Girl, introduced to the British Press (PA)
Barbra Streisand, American star of Broadway hit musical Funny Girl, introduced to the British Press (PA) Barbra Streisand, American star of Broadway hit musical Funny Girl, introduced to the British Press (PA)
By Hannah Roberts, PA Entertainment Reporter

Barbra Streisand has said that she has not “had much fun” in her life and “wants to have more fun.”

The American actress and singer, 81, known for films such as The Way We Were, Yentl, A Star Is Born, Funny Girl and Meet The Fockers, said she wants to prioritise enjoying herself following a long and varied career in music and film.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, she said: “I want to live life.

“I want to get in my husband’s truck and just wander, go round, hopefully with the children somewhere near us when they come over.

“They love playing with the dogs, we have fun.

“I haven’t had much fun in my life, tell you the truth, and I want to have more fun.”

Streisand also discussed a passage in her new memoir, My Name Is Barbra, which details the moment she realised the iPhone could not pronounce her name properly.

The star called up Apple chief executive Tim Cook to let him know.

“My name isn’t spelled with a Z. It’s Strei-sand, like sand on the beach. How simple can you get?,” she said.

“So anyway I decided how do I change this? I like solving problems, I figured I better call the head of Apple, Tim Cook, and he had Siri change the pronunciation of my name to be correct. That’s one perk of fame!”

Barbra Streisand – London
Barbra Streisand – London Barbra Streisand, American star of Broadway hit musical Funny Girl, introduced to the British Press (PA)

Streisand also discussed her music career and said: “Music is work to me, meaning after I make a record, which I loved making records, but what I have to go through to get it out is listening to it, mixing it, listening to it, listening to it on different systems, it’s work.

“I mean, it takes time. So by the time it’s over, I never want to hear it again, until maybe 25 years later.”

The Grammy-award winner claimed that when she worked on Broadway musical Funny Girl her co-star Sydney Chaplin would mutter “terrible” words to her.

She said: “It’s a painful story. I don’t like to even talk about it.

“It’s just a person who had a crush on me, which was unusual, and when I said to him, ‘I don’t want to be involved with you’ he turned on me and in such a way that was very cruel I think.

“He started muttering under his breath while I was talking on stage, he would mutter terrible words to me sort of curse words and he wouldn’t look into my eyes anymore.

“It threw me into analysis, how to talk logic to somebody who wouldn’t stop doing this.”

Streisand is one of only a handful of people to hold the title of Egot, the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony.

She scored a best actress Oscar in 1969 for the big screen adaptation of musical comedy Funny Girl, the same year Katharine Hepburn also won the gong for The Lion In Winter in a rare tie.

In 1983 film she wrote, directed and starred in Yentl, the first Hollywood movie where a woman was at the helm as both writer, producer, director and star.

The actresses new memoir is slated for release on Tuesday November 7 and details Streisand’s achievements as a singer, actor, director and more, also delving into her philanthropy, including her work to raise awareness for women’s heart disease.