My Name Is Barbra

In the prologue to her memoir, Barbra Streisand comments on how her public perception has been skewed by all of the lies and rumors spread about her in the media. Revealing the truth about herself is the primary reason Streisand writes this autobiography, yet she worries that her words won’t be enough to dispel the gossip: “I’m scared that after six decades of people making up stories about me, I’m going to tell the truth, and nobody is going to believe it” (13). The more famous she becomes, the more lies are told about Streisand, who is a proponent of absolute truth and frequently repeats phrases such as “I can’t stand the lies” (99) throughout her memoir. Early in her career she wanted to respond to the false accusations: “For years, whenever I read something about myself that was completely untrue, my first impulse was to correct it” (580). However, her manager always prevented her from doing so, knowing that reacting would only have drawn more attention. Streisand argues in her memoir that she is the only one who can be trusted to tell her truth.

Though she is unable to ensure that the press only reports the truth about her, Streisand makes a point of always being honest in her art.