A sad reflection on success comes from Barbra Streisand as she launches her memoir. “I haven’t had much fun in my life.” Having set out with driven determination to become a star after a loveless childhood she discovered “it was more exciting to dream about being famous than the reality. I don’t enjoy stardom.”
250 million records, 10 Golden Globe awards, five Emmys and two Oscars, for acting and songwriting are testament to her towering talent and yet all the accolades still don’t drown out the inner negative voices. “Even after all these years, I’m still hurt by the insults and can’t quite believe the praise,” she writes.
She was born 24 April 1942 5.08 am New York, with her teacher father dying when she was 15 months old. Her mother remarried and both she and the stepfather continually put her down. Leaving home at 16, she took a second job working weekend shifts as a theatre usher, so she could keep up with Broadway’s latest shows. When she won at talent contest in a bar aged 18, it started her singing career rolling. By 26 she was already a seasoned performer when her breakout role in Funny Girl put her at the peak.
Her working relationships have at times been challenging even hostile which has clearly hurt her though she does not have an easy temperament. After a complicated love life she has settled in a second marriage for the past twenty years with actor James Brolin and armfuls of dogs.
She has a 1st house Taurus Sun Mercury – Taurus ruling the throat being often found with singers – square Pluto, Chiron, Moon in Leo in her performing 5th. With Chiron close to her Moon and square her Sun she will have been aware through her life of the unhealable wounds emerging from a fractured childhood.
Sun Pluto squares are often written up as applying solely to controlling, dominating fathers but occur frequently where the father died young – literally out of the child’s control, prompting the erection of strong controlling defences in the emerging adult as a protection against life’s destructiveness. Similarly Moon Pluto mothers are often sloppily referred to as possessive making them sound smothering when often they can be destructive and damaging in other ways.
She has the creative Neptune trine Uranus of her year with Saturn close by in Taurus. Her fixed qualities and stubbornness will have made cooperation tricky at times but will have given her endurance. Her 12th house Venus in musical Pisces, again points to a lack of love and self-esteem but will have given poignancy to her love songs.
Her creative 5th harmonic is exceptionally strong highlighting her ultra-determined streak. Her creative, seeking and searching, 7th harmonic is also notable – influential, confident, lucky, forceful.
Her husband James Brolin, 18 July 1940 11.10 am Los Angeles, at first glance is an odd match. He is a Sun Cancer opposition Moon in Capricorn with an equally obstinate collection of Jupiter Saturn and Uranus in Taurus plus Mercury, Pluto, Mars in Leo which is conjunct her Moon Chiron Pluto. That could have pointed to a whole load of aggravation. Though perhaps both having sailed through a variety of relationships were mellower and wiser about what it takes.
His Sun in the cusp of her 5th and trine her Venus would soften the mood; with his Venus in Gemini conjunct her Mars to add a touch of crackle and pop to passion. Her Sun falls in his 7th which is also ideal for a partnership.
Add On: From reviews of her memoir illuminating her Moon, Chiron, Pluto square Sun.
Her mother, Diana, didn’t treat her well, claiming she didn’t have time to tell her daughter that she loved her. The cruel stepfather once gave her elder brother’s fiancée money to buy ice cream for everyone except Barbra because she was “ugly”. Childhood tinnitus was dealt with by being ignored.
When Streisand played a huge Las Vegas concert in 1993, with a starry audience and a fee in the millions, she flew her mother out specially. But Diana skipped it for a night on the Strip, later wondering why anyone would pay her daughter all that money to sing. With Streisand the toast of the town as Funny Girl became the biggest thing on Broadway, her mother flipped out at the number of presents her daughter was getting. She screamed: “I’m the mother! She’s nothing without me!” As her daughter reflects: “She could kill any pleasure I felt in an instant.”
Diana Streisand, 10 December 1908, NY, was a Sun Sagittarius opposition Pluto and square Jupiter – controlling and pushily confident; with Neptune maybe conjunct a Cancer Moon opposition Uranus = emotionally unstable. Her Mars in vengeful Scorpio (conjunct Venus) was square Barbra’s Moon, Pluto, Chiron and opposition her Sun Mercury. So an envious, spiteful connection.
Diana’s hard-edged Saturn in Aries sat on Barbra’s Ascendant and square her Midheaven so she would be a downer on any public persona of success or career triumphs. Plus Diana’s Pluto was conjunct Barbra’s Jupiter and Mars for a power-struggling and hostile interface.
Just as well Barbra has phenomenal endurance from her six fixed planets and tenacious Pluto otherwise she’d have been crushed.
Thank you for this piece. I am reading her auto-biography now. I was very curious about her early life as I had a similar experience with parents who were critical, not supportive. Her story is amazing. She was successful at such a young age. AND SHE CLEARLY HAS HAD FUN! What I’m gleaning from reading her words is that she gets great joy from the creative process itself. Also, her intelligence is really something. She is a serious artist, but also, if what she has written is to be believed (and I believe it) she is gracious towards those she works with especially those who understand creating exceptional work. She sounds like she is a loving person–and aside from her accomplishments in the outer world, that is a great accomplishment by someone who grew up with difficulty. (She mentions finding good therapists who helped her.)
I think Barbara is very lucky in one respect, she is widely admired and respected and many famous people cannot say that.
Some great significators for the cloned dogs!
I read the BBC article about her this morning, it was quite a touching article. With Barbra’s claim of never having had much fun in her life, I think that’s probably the tension of Taurus planets square her Leo moon-pluto in 5th. But also I suspect, as I’ve felt the same thing in my own life, she has a higher standard for what having fun is with that Leo moon-pluto-5th intensity. She probably had lots of fun by most people’s standard but never really felt it as deeply as she would have liked.
With Saturn in the 2nd, it’s damn hard to find your inner value. No matter how good you are, the critical voices always cast doubt on you.
Another person whose big break came when transiting Pluto went over Neptune (1968 – Funny Girl in her case).
As for her comments on fame, she seems to echo Mark Knopfler (of Dire Straits), a Sun Leo-Pluto who said you can become rich and famous – but there’s no upside to fame.