One of the most iconic couples of Hollywood, they were both married to other people and completely unlucky in love before they met each other.
Hollywood power couple Barbra Streisand and James Brolin are going strong from the last 20 years now. But they found their "forever" in each other much after they had embraced solitude as the way of life.
Both the singer and actor were married to other people before they met. In 1963, Streisand wed actor Eliot Gould and has a son, Jason, with him. They parted ways in 1971. Brolin has been married twice; first with Jane Cameron Agee with whom he has two children and later with Jan Smithers with whom he has a daughter.
According to People, the A Star Is Born hitmaker had stopped looking for love way before she met Brolin, "Without being in despair, I was finally liking my solitude," Barbra told.
Narrating her experience of their first meet, she told W Magazine that they met at a party and he turned out to be nothing as she expected, "I met him at a dinner and expected a bearded mountain-man type, and he had cut off all his hair and was clean-shaven," she told. "I asked him, 'Who screwed up your hair?' He later told me that's when he fell in love with me. My fella likes to hear the truth, which is unusual."
July 1, 1996, marked their first date, and it was a date of dreams. They talked till 3:00 am, they did fumble with their first kiss but it couldn't mar the out-of-body experience they had with each other. Streisand told that it took her "a couple of months" to realize he was the one. While Brolin was away directing My Brother's War they strengthened their relationship over phone calls. It took him three months to move in with her.
According to People, John Travolta and Kelly Preston were the first ones to know about their wedding. "After her mother, Kelly and I were the first to know the big news," Travolta told the magazine. "We got misty-eyed, then thrilled that we were in on it so quickly. But Barbra asked us to keep it a secret."
Finally, on the second anniversary of their first date, July 1, 1998, they exchanged vows in Streisand's Malibu estate. Reportedly, she wore a 15-foot veil for her wedding and ordered to play loudspeakers outside her home so the media couldn't hear their vows.
Sources report, the guests included fellow A-listers like Travolta, Preston, Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson, Quincy Jones, and Sydney Pollack. It was an emotional affair as Streisand sang love songs for Brolin and he reciprocated with an emotional speech.
"I can't tell you how lucky I am that this would happen to me so late in life," he said, according to People. "Every night is a new adventure. Sleeping is a waste of time. I can't wait to see her again in the morning."
Streisand believes that it's a blend of truth and compassion that keeps a relationship alive and that's what she has done for two decades. "The Dalai Lama says, 'Give truth with compassion...' I used to use truth as a weapon years ago, actually, 'Well, you look fat 'cause you're fat ... I'm telling you the truth.' Truth with compassion would say it a different way — I don't think you can take each other for granted."
But their fairy tale romance also includes a generous share of rationality, which has worked in their favor and they prefer keeping it the same way. We've bifurcated, and I love it that way," he told HuffPost Live. "I have my own money and she has her own money. […] This is my third marriage, and I know what trouble can come out of marriage, so I didn't want any reason that I would ever have to be either divorced or married again. We've been in heaven for 20 years, so it works."
The Westworld actor went out of the way to admit that couple's counseling is a great way to solve relationship issues, "I do believe in counseling if anybody ever has a problem in their marriage," he told Entertainment Tonight. "Bring in a referee, talk it over, and I swear to you, it will dispel by the end of the session, each time!"
Streisand, on the other hand, keeps the spark alive with her romantic anecdotes, "I'm always welcome when I get home," Brolin told ET. "I always get notes, 'Hurry home!' When I get there, there's always something kind of great waiting for me, some plan, and I try to reciprocate."
References:
https://www.etonline.com/james-brolin-reflects-20-years-marriage-barbra-streisand-exclusive-94300
https://www.wmagazine.com/story/barbra-streisand-interview-w-magazine-photographed-steven-meisel
https://people.com/archive/cover-story-the-way-they-were-vol-50-no-1/
