Barbra Streisand is getting candid about her relationship with the late Judy Garland in her new memoir, saying their rumored rivalry was nonexistent.
“People were looking for some sort of rivalry between us. And when they couldn’t find anything, they made it up,” Streisand writes in her tell-all book, “My Name Is Barbra,” via an excerpt from People magazine.
The two were often pitted against each other as titans of both the stage and screen, but Streisand says that she found Garland to be “completely generous” when she appeared on her self-titled talk show in 1963.
“We sang a medley of songs, taking turns, and she wasn’t just focused on herself. She watched me and responded to me,” Streisand writes in the excerpt. “She would reach out and brush back a strand of my hair, like a mother. And Judy’s own daughter, Liza Minnelli, says that her mother’s first reaction on hearing me sing was to say, ‘I’m never going to open my mouth again.’ She was like that, very self‑deprecating. And deeply vulnerable.”
They became friends after Streisand’s appearance on “The Judy Garland Show,” with Garland often sharing advice with Streisand, who was 20 years younger.
“We spoke on the phone, and she came to one of the rare parties I gave at my New York apartment (four in 35 years). 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 writes. “I should have asked her what she meant, but I didn’t want to appear too nosy.”
Garland, who famously starred in “The Wizard of Oz” and “A Star Is Born” — a role Streisand would take on in the 1976 version with Kris Kristofferson — had a tumultuous time in Hollywood. After finding child stardom, Garland struggled with drug and alcohol abuse and encountered financial trouble later in life. She died on June 22, 1969 from an accidental overdose at the age of 47.
“What a tragedy… and such a loss,” Streisand writes in her memoir. “She was an extraordinary talent.”
“My Name Is Barbra” is available now.
