The bizarre truth about life with Barbra Streisand

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Queen of the Divas: Streisand has gained a reputation as one of the showbiz world's most imperious performers

Peach-coloured toilet roll to match her complexion, and rose petals in the toilet bowl. One hundred-and-twenty designer bathroom towels also in peach. Ten highly specified designer floor lamps.

And that's before we get to the insistence that the security team wear 'neat dark sweaters' and use metal detectors.

Even by the standards of a diva, staff at Castletown House had their work cut out as they made their final preparations for the arrival (by private plane, naturally) of last Saturday's performer at the stunning County Kildare castle and estate.

And reports yesterday said she was making similar demands on staff at The Dorchester - where she is staying, while she performs three concerts at London's O2 Arena, the first of which was last night - including, not to talk to her unless specifically requested.

After all, while Barbra Streisand still suffers from the stage fright that has plagued her 45-year-long career, it has never stymied the eye-watering list of specifications she makes before she even considers getting on stage.

Not for nothing has the 65-year-old singer carved out a reputation as one of showbusiness's most talented performers and also its most imperious.

Now, after a relatively long period away from the European spotlight, Babs is back, performing nine European concert dates.

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Stage-shy Streisand performed in the UK for the first time since 1994

Last week's show in Manchester was her first appearance in the UK since 1994, and Ms Streisand seemed anxious to make her visit memorable, not just for her fans but for the staff required to attend to her demands.

But maybe they should not have been surprised: American lyricist Paul Williams once described working with her as 'like having a picnic at the end of an airport runway'.

Streisand has made no secret of her dislike of stage appearances, provoked by a concert she gave in 1967, in Manhattan, when she forgot the words to one of her own songs.

Mission

"I simply don't enjoy them, not one bit," she said recently.

So why perform? With more than 70 million records sold, shelves of Grammy, Tony and Emmy awards and a vast fortune, Streisand has little left to prove.

But Barbra is on a mission. Before the US leg of her tour last year, she said: "This will allow me to direct funds and awareness to causes I care about."

Talk in West Coast showbusiness circles, however, is rather more prosaic: despite the domestic peace Streisand has found in recent years through her marriage to Hollywood actor James Brolin, she is believed to be driven by a desire for public acclaim (or, as one commentator put it 'Once a needy diva, always a needy diva').

To be fair, her eight-year marriage to Brolin - his third marriage, her second, following nine years with Elliott Gould, ending in 1971 - seems to have softened her.

Contented

While usually protective of her privacy, she has been happy to discuss the intimate details of their alliance. She told actor Dustin Hoffman, her co-star in the 2004 film Meet The Fockers, that her and Brolin enjoyed sex six times a week.

Life as Mrs Brolin seems to suit Streisand. The couple have spent much of their time together in recent years at her extensive Malibu estate, painting and gardening.

Yet this casual domesticity does not extend to staff, as English gardener Keith Mansfield discovered.

The 65-year-old from Devon was hired by the star in 2002. She had been impressed with his work at the Gidleigh Park Hotel in Devon, when she had stayed there.

After tending to her Malibu estate for only a few days, however, Mansfield resigned. She had been terribly kind, he explained, but was unable to resist interfering.

Interfering

"She was always rushing around, telling me where to put my hollyhocks."

Streisand was dismayed when, just before her world tour in the US last year, writer Christopher Anderson released an unauthorised biography which included her apparently awe-inspiring sexual CV.

While the singer's erotic allure has become something of a legend over the years (Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen are among her conquests), Anderson added a prince and a president to her admirers.

Prince Charles, Anderson alleged, courted Streisand on a trip to America in 1994, sharing an intimate dinner with her nine months later; while former president Bill Clinton was described as 'obsessed' with the singer.

Streisand is said to have spent a night at the White House while Hillary Clinton was in Arkansas tending to her dying father. (The President hosted a press conference the following day with scratch marks on his neck and face.)

Controlling

Anderson's claims provoked her to issue an official rebuttal on her website. Under the heading 'Truth Alerts', she denounced the book as 'vicious, mean-spirited mythology masquerading as biography'.

Some of this desire for control can be dated back to the unhappiness of her childhood. Born in Brooklyn in April 1942, Streisand was raised by an emotionally detached mother and unaffectionate stepfather.

But by 20, she was acting on Broadway in a musical called I Can Get It For You Wholesale. And in an early example of her demands, she insisted the programme listed her as being born in Rangoon and raised in Madagascar, to make her sound more exotic.

Demanding

Her list of demands ever since is as varied as it is lengthy. She once demanded staff at the MGM Grand Hotel in Las Vegas enter and leave her room backwards (she justified, this with the response: "I'm simple, complex, generous, selfish, unattractive, beautiful and driven.").

Directing a night shoot in New York for one of her movies, her perfectionism resulted in the production running a few hours behind schedule. Just before one take, she noticed more light than usual.

"Where the **** is that light coming from," she screamed. "It's 5.30am," a hesitant crew member responded. "I think it's the sun."

"Well, do something about it," she replied.

Political

These days it is politics, rather than dressing-room requirements, which tends to be her focus. A lifelong Democrat, she has remained vocal in her political stance. She abhors George Bush and often expresses her horror of military action in Iraq under the heading 'statements' on her website.

Due to her outspoken liberal views and support for Israel, Streisand is scared of being assassinated.

In his biography, Anderson features a scene from the time of the Six-Day War in 1967 when, the author claims, Streisand weaved around the stage during a concert in New York to make herself a more difficult target for potential snipers.

Forty years on, security specifications for her latest tour suggest she is just as twitchy. Venue administrators for all her UK tour dates have been told that metal detectors must be manned throughout the day of the show and during the performance, and police dogs must sweep the auditorium before her sound check.

None of these idiosyncrasies appear to deter the singer's fans. Streisand was the second most successful live act in the US last year, making more than £46 million from just 20 shows. (This figure is perhaps less surprising given the price of the tickets, which ranged from £145 to nearly £450.)

At each evening on her current tour, Streisand rises like an empress into view in the middle of the stage, as her 58-piece orchestra reach the crescendo of a sweeping overture. Everything this diva does, after all, is on the grandest of scales - and that includes her paranoia.

 

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