Streisand's new memoir says she's 'still hurt' by insults over looks

LOS ANGELES

The long-awaited "My Name is Barbra" hits the shelves yesterday, with the 81-year-old artist and EGOT winner - Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony - dishing on her decades in the entertainment business.

Across 992 pages Streisand, beloved for her voice as well as her myriad acting roles including "Funny Girl," "A Star Is Born" and "The Way We Were," discusses the pressures of the industry and double standards for women artists: "sometimes I felt like my nose got more press than I did," she writes.

"I wish I could say none of this affected me, but it did. Even after all these years, I'm still hurt by the insults and can't quite believe the praise," writes Streisand in excerpts published in People magazine.

"I guess when you become famous, you become public property. You're an object to be examined, photographed, analyzed, dissected and half the time I don't recognize the person they portray. I've never gotten used to it, and I try to avoid reading anything about myself."

She also discusses her high-profile romances with former husband Elliott Gould with whom she shares a son, Jason, as well as Marlon Brando and Canada's former prime minister Pierre Trudeau.

"Deep down, I, too, wanted romance, but I had let my work take over. I tended to use work as a substitute for relationships," she writes.

For a quarter-century now she's been married to actor James Brolin.

"Jim and I met at a point in my life when I had basically given up on finding someone. And frankly, I was all right with being on my own. I had my son, I had great friends to keep me company, my work was fulfilling, and I loved my new house in Malibu overlooking the ocean," she writes.

In doing press for the memoir Streisand has said penning her life's story herself has been "the only way to have some control over my life."

"This is my legacy," she told the BBC. "I wrote my story. I don't have to do any more interviews after this."