Barbra Streisand has been married to James Brolin for nearly 20 years — and the actor says there's only one way to handle the Ultimate Diva! "Call in a referee," said James. "Have a discussion. Don’t let the guy say, ‘Oh, I don’t want to talk to anybody about that,’ or any of that stuff." The ENQUIRER certainly understands why James would feel that way, too. We're looking back at some of James and Babs' most worrying moments in their volatile union...
James and Barbra recently got very close to a $550 million divorce battle over the superstar's plan to write a tell-all memoir that named all the big names in her love life — potentially including President Clinton! A mole told The ENQUIRER: "They had a mega blowout after James begged Barbara not to go into embarrassing detail about her long list of Hollywood lovers. But she told him, 'Stay out of it! It's my book and I'll write what I damn well please!'"
There was more tension this year between James, 75, and his 73-year-old spouse when she went bonkers and boycotted stepson Josh Brolin’s wedding to fiancée Kathryn Boyd! “Barbra suspects that Kathryn is a social climber who’s using Josh for his money and Tinseltown connections,” a source dished to The ENQUIRER. “But Josh thinks Barbra is just being a meddling mother-in-law. He’s going forward with the marriage whether Barbra likes it or not!”
The ENQUIRER's Mike Walker revealed the tension in Tinseltown after Barbra's beloved 12-year-old pooch “Sammie” bit a flight attendant on billionaire Ron Perelman’s private plane — and James started complaining that he’s now wary of the small dog himself! Said a family friend: “Barbra brings Sammie — who she calls ‘the daughter I never had’ — everywhere, and it drives James crazy because the little dog is very protective of Barbra, even growling at James when he gets too close...and incredibly, when James groused to his wife that he believes she loves the dog MORE than she loves him, Barbra responded: ‘YOU’RE DAMNED RIGHT!’”
The diva has been caught by The ENQUIRER keeping some strange secrets from James, too — including how the extremely spiritual showbiz legend is secretly consulting with psychics and mystics who've told her to dump her husband! “She turned to psychics and mystics, who told her there’s no spiritual connection with James,” said an insider.
It was a tense Christmas last year when Barbra flipped her lid over James' flirty friendship with Stana Katic on the set of "Castle." James had landed a recurring role on the show as the long-absent father of the show’s title character, played by Nathan Fillion. “James went on and on about how delightful Stana was,” a friend said at the time. “Barbra accused James of having an affair with Stana, and he shot back, ‘Don’t be ridiculous!’ But Barbra refused to let it go, and they got into a terrible screaming match.”
The ENQUIRER also learned that Barbra once claimed to Dustin Hoffman that she and James had sex six times a week! But a source said: “Nothing could be further from the truth! Barbra’s telling tall tales, attempting to show that they have a great sex life when that’s not what is going on. The truth is, Babs has banned him from sex to teach him a lesson!"