Barbra Streisand and Julia Roberts: Inside Their Fraught Friendship

Barbra Streisand and Julia Roberts haven’t had the easiest relationship over the years, the National Enquirer has learned. According to a source, the Funny Girl star, 83, has always seen herself as an “early supporter” of the Pretty Woman actress, 58, going back to when she first came on the Hollywood scene in the late eighties. “Barbra loves bragging about her instincts about upcoming talent,” says the source, but has an “extreme level of expectation” when it comes to making friends with them. The friendship that Streisand envisioned for her and Roberts “hasn’t exactly materialized” in the decades since, reveals the source. “Barbra and Julia have had their ups and downs over the years, marked mostly by Barbra reaching out to Julia to offer an unsolicited piece of her mind,” says the source. “Sometimes, Julia has the patience for that kind of thing and sometimes she doesn’t.” In 2012, Streisand offered Roberts a role in her directorial project, Skinny and Cat, only for the Oscar-winning actress to turn her down, per The Hollywood Reporter. Streisand also offered Roberts a part in The Normal Heart when she was attached to the Broadway adaptation — and she turned that down too, it was revealed in a 2011 post on Streisand’s official website. “But that alone is not going to keep Barbra from picking up the phone and giving Julia her unfiltered … take on the industry,” Enquirer’s source notes. “To be fair to Julia, she’s softened up about this stuff as she’s gotten older, and she knows Barbra is coming from a place of affection when she gets in touch.” After all, “there are worse things than having a living legend call you out of the blue offering advice,” says the source. “Julia knows she is lucky to have Barbra in her corner, even if the whole situation sometimes gets very irritating.” Read More From National Enquirer Vice President JD Vance and Wife Usha Reveal They Are Expecting 4th Child Following Marriage Rumors ‘Maury’ Babies Speak Out Decades After Their Paternity Was Revealed on Live TV: ‘I Was Disgusted’ Jon Stewart Addresses Hopes That He’ll Run for President Amid a ‘Shared Feeling of Helplessness’