Barbra Streisand's very long-awaited memoir, a project she has talked about for her years, is coming out this fall. Viking, a Penguin Random House imprint, will release “My Name is Barbra” on Nov. 7.
“Dozens of books have been written about Streisand, and now in ‘My Name Is Barbra,’ she tells her story in her own words,” Viking announced Tuesday.
“My Name Is Barbra” also is the title of a 1965 Streisand album and television special.
Publishers have sought a Streisand memoir for decades, with the singer telling Jimmy Fallon in 2021 that Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis asked her to write one in the early 1980s, when the former first lady was an editor at Doubleday. In 2009, while being interviewed by The Associated Press about a book she wrote about her house in Malibu, California, Streisand mentioned that she had been writing chapters about her life, in longhand.
“I go back and forth,” Streisand said at the time. “Do I really want to write about my life? Do I really want to relive my life? I’m not sure.”
The memoir was first announced in 2015, and scheduled for two years later, although it didn’t have a title at the time. A reference to it on her web site, posted in 2015, was later pulled.
Financial terms for the memoir were not disclosed. Streisand was represented by Robert Barnett, the Washington attorney whose other clients have ranged from Barack Obama to Elton John.
Streisand, 80, told Fallon that she had written more than 800 pages, and she surely has enough stories to fill them. She has met everyone from John F. Kennedy and Judy Garland to Celine Dion and Paul McCartney. Her films include “Funny Girl,” “The Way We Were” and “A Star Is Born" and worldwide sales of her records exceed 150 million copies.
Streisand has long been wary of discussing her private life, including her relationships with actor Elliott Gould and producer Jon Peters. Since 1998, she has been married to actor James Brolin.
