WWW- JUST in time for Barbra Streisand’s latest planned comeback tour comes a scandalicious new bio packed with fresh dirt on the world’s most reclusive diva.
For starters, Christopher Anderson’s “Barbra: The Way She Is” reconstructs her truly awe-inspiring sexual résumé.
In addition to exclusive accounts of Streisand’s affairs with both Prince Charles and Princess Diana’s doomed lover, Dodi Fayed, Anderson writes that her conquests include Warren Beatty, Ryan O’Neal, Steve McQueen, Kris Kristofferson, Don Johnson (whom friends dismissed as her “Goy Toy”), Jon Voight, Elliott Gould, Andre Agassi, Richard Gere, Omar Sharif, ice cream heir Richard Baskin, hairdresser-turned-studio chief Jon Peters, Liam Neeson, Peter Jennings, Tommy Smothers and “Robocop” Peter Weller.
But what’s really sure to grab readers’ attention is Anderson’s painstaking portrait of Streisand’s “[Maria] Callas-sized” ego, extreme paranoia and cring-inducing tantrums. Among the many highlights:
* Streisand harbors a deep fear of being assassinated, owing to her outspoken support for Israel. Around the time of the Six-Day War in 1967, Anderson writes, Streisand staged “A Happening in the Park” to thank her New York fans, but spent the concert weaving around the stage trying to make herself a more difficult, moving target for any would-be snipers.
* Hillary Clinton banned her from Bill Clinton’s White House after learning she’d stayed overnight while the First Lady was in Arkansas at her father’s deathbed.
* During a 1963 stage production of “Funny Girl,” Streisand had a torrid affair with her co-star, Sydney Chaplin, son of Charlie. When it fizzled, Chaplin would whisper insults in Streisand’s ear onstage. What really got her goat, however, was a simple four-letter word: “nose.”
* As a member of the chorus at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn (alongside Neil Diamond), Streisand never had a solo and her half-sister, Roslyn Kind, was widely considered more talented.
* Her frugality became legendary early on. Even back when she and then-boyfriend Jon Peters were transforming their Ramirez Canyon compound, “Supply companies, contractors and pool builders would have to resort to placing liens on the property if they wanted to get paid,” Anderson writes. ” ‘They were so goddamned cheap,’ said one contractor. ‘It was just sickening, when you saw how much they had.’ “