Tragic Details About Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand's scholarly father, Emanuel Streisand, died at just 35 years old, when the future star was 15 months old. For a long time, Barbra's mother, Diana, told her and her brother, Sheldon, that Emanuel had died from working too much, which led to a cerebral hemorrhage. In reality, he suffered "respiratory failure probably induced

Barbra Streisand's scholarly father, Emanuel Streisand, died at just 35 years old, when the future star was 15 months old. For a long time, Barbra's mother, Diana, told her and her brother, Sheldon, that Emanuel had died from working too much, which led to a cerebral hemorrhage. In reality, he suffered "respiratory failure probably induced when morphine was injected into his neck to halt an epileptic fit," according to People.

Emanuel's untimely death understandably left a gaping hole in Barbra and her family's lives. "I always felt I never had a father," she told People in 1983. "There wasn't even a picture of us together. Only his books down in the cellar, tied up with string." This fact made Barbra Streisand stand out among her peers. 

"I was known as the kid who had a good voice and no father," she once explained to Oprah Winfrey. But just because Emanuel wasn't physically present throughout his famous daughter's life doesn't mean he didn't influence her. Revealing to Winfrey that she visited a medium, who claimed to be able to "call up" their father, on her brother's suggestion, Streisand said, "For 39 years, I hadn't even visited my father's grave. So first, I went there and took a picture with my arm around his tombstone. It's the only picture I have with him. Then we met with the woman, and let me tell you, the table moved." Feeling "totally connected" to her father, the experience led Streisand to take the plunge and direct her movie, "Yentl."

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