Like many celebrities, Barbra Streisand has seen her share of tabloid action. But now we learn that, unlike most celebrities, she is completely ignorant of most of what is said about her.
Take for example this headline from The National Enquirer:
EXCLUSIVE: STREISAND KICKS BROLIN OUT!
The $400 million divorce of BARBRA STREISAND and JAMES BROLIN has shifted into overdrive, say sources, after she blamed him for “humiliating” her in front of some top celebrities and President Barack Obama!
The story went on to cite “inside sources” who gave specific quotes about a fight that allegedly occurred between Streisand and Brolin at the USC Shoah Foundation Ambassador for humanity 20th anniversary dinner. After shouts and accusations and a bit of spit-slinging, “Barbra flung open the door of their house and yelled, ‘Get out!’”
The rag went on to build a case over multiple issues that Barbra and James were headed for a “$400 million divorce.”
But it turns out, no one told Barbra or James.
“I’m not even aware of these. Nobody shows me, and I don’t go to the supermarkets much, though I love to go to supermarkets,” Streisand said at an event at Hearst Tower in New York.
“I said, I need ice cream . . . So I’m in the supermarket and we’re holding hands, and a guy behind us says, ‘Oh, you’re back together?’ And I said, ‘When were we apart?’”
Streisand says these kinds of reports are not harmless.
“The damage is done,” she continued. “They go into the supermarket, they read this crap — excuse me, but it’s absurd. We’ve been together 18 years.”
Streisand has learned the hard way to be careful how she goes about managing her public profile as a celebrity. Not putting up with tabloids is one thing. But in the quest for privacy, she has learned to hold on loosely. The Streisand Effect was named after her efforts to have fly-by footage of one of her mansions removed from a documentary backfired. The lawsuit she filed only made the public more aware of her private life.