Barbra Streisand and Judy Garland
Courtesy of the Everett Collection
Barbra Streisand shares a warning about Hollywood that her late friend and fellow actress Judy Garland gave her in her new memoir, My Name is Barbra.
In an excerpt via People magazine, Streisand wrote: “Judy and I became friends. We spoke on the phone and she came to one of the rare parties I threw in my New York apartment (four in 35 years). I think she arrived late. And I remember she said something I never fully understood: “Don’t let them do to you what they did to me.” I should have asked her what she meant, but I didn’t want to pry works.”
In the 2017 memoir of the late actress, “Judy and I: My Life with Judy Garland,” her ex-husband Sid Luft described the pressure Garland faced to maintain a certain weight and appearance, including being told by studio executives , she has to pay attention to her figure. Luft, who died before the book’s publication, said the star of “The Wizard of Oz” took drugs to cope. Garland died in 1969 at the age of 47 from an accidental barbiturate overdose.
“What a tragedy . . . and such a loss. She was an extraordinary talent,” Streisand wrote in her book.
Streisand also looked back on her early career in the industry, explaining, “People were looking for some kind of rivalry between us [Streisand and Gardland]. And when they couldn’t find anything, they made it up.” In 1963, Streisand appeared on an episode of Garland’s CBS show The Judy Garland Show.
“I found Judy completely generous. We took turns singing a medley of songs, and she wasn’t just focused on herself. She watched me and answered me. “She reached out and brushed back a strand of my hair, like a mother,” Streisand said of Garland in her memoir. “And Judy’s own daughter, Liza Minnelli, says her mother’s first reaction when she heard me sing was, ‘I’ll never open my mouth again.’ She was so, very self-deprecating. And deeply vulnerable.”
“My Name is Barbra,” reflections on her career and past relationships, hit bookshelves Tuesday.