A Hard-bound Tabloid Story

"Barbra: The Way She Is" isn't a biography so much as a 412-page National Enquirer story, offering more gossip than insight on its subject. The author and his editors don't even bother to check simple facts like who directed "Patton" and what was Jack Nicholson's debut movie, calling into question other assertions Christopher Anderson makes in his book, like all but claiming Streisand had affairs with Bill Clinton and Prince Charles. I'll admit I couldn't put the book down, but when I was done I wished I'd spent my time reading something else.

Why the vendetta?

Boy, does someone have an axe to grind with Barbra or what? OK, so it's not big news that Barbra Streisand can be difficult to work with, is a perfectionist, may have a high opinon of herself. But the author takes every opportunity to knock her. Even those who had to work with her on movie sets where she might have been demanding admit that her suggestions, her know-it-all attitude was often correct. And can Barbra do nothing right? Early on he takes her to task for her lack of grooming, later on for her fastidious dressing and nails. With this author, Barbra couldn't win. The entire book has a gossipy feel to it that made many of the observations suspect. Bottom line? Next time I'll look for an objective author, not someone out to malign his subject.

At Long Last TRUTH

"Below is an e-mail written from Randy Stone, who is Barbra's sister's ex-husband:

Someone sent me an e-mail of an article on page six that I must respond to.It has to do with Barbra Streisand and it is a vicious lie. The article claims that Barbra was in Los Angeles on the day her sister got married and she refused to attend.

I'm sadly used to reading vicious lies about Barbra. but this one made blood boil. It is so far beyond the truth that I just want to mention a few things. I was the groom in that wedding so I want set the record straight. First of all, Barbra gave us our wedding, on her beautiful Malibu Ranch, and then she gave us a large gift of money to get us started on our new life together. A while before Roz and I actually got married, Barbra had been frantically working on making Yentl. When we told her that we were going to be married she was thrilled for us and agreed to be Roz's Maid of honor. She was so happy for her sister, that we finally came up with a date for our wedding, Barbra was willing to move post production on Yentl from London to Los Angeles which was going to cost upwards of $100,000 (a lot of money in 1983) so that she could be with us. Having been shown a portion of the film and knowing how hard she had worked for years making what Roz and I agreed would be her masterpiece, we made the decision to go back to Barbra and INSIST that she concentrate on her movie and not assemble a new post production team and schedule just for our wedding. Although Roz and I are no longer married, we remain good friends. As far as Barbra, I will never forget how warmly Barbra treated us as a couple and what an amazingly generous, kind and selfless person she was to me.

On the day of our wedding, she was calling every few hours to make sure things were perfect for us and had her assistants taking photos of us so that they could be shipped to London overnight so she could see them immediately. When I think of Barbra, the thing that comes to mind is that every time I ever spent time with her, she never talked about herself. She seemed so interested in every detail of my life and made me feel that everything I told her fascinated her. Since I was in my early 2Os at the time, I hardly believe that what I had to say was so interesting. But I do believe that she went out of her way to make sure that I felt accepted and cared about. She was a great sister-in-law."