
Last updated: Tuesday, December 30, 2008
BARBRA STREISAND is surprised she carved out a hugely successful singing and acting career - because her mother always told her she wasn't good enough to make it in Hollywood.
Barbra Streisand at the 31st annual Kennedy Center Honors - arrivals at the Kennedy Centre, Washington DC, USA - 07.12.08
The legendary performer struggled from humble beginnings in Brooklyn, New York to propel herself to stardom - becoming one of the few entertainers in history to win an Oscar, a Grammy, an Emmy and a Tony award.
But the star still remembers the stark realities of her childhood which made her strive for success.
She tells America's Early Show, "We never had a couch. We never had a living room.
"We only had a dining room and then my grandmother and grandfather lived in one bedroom. My mother, my brother and I slept in another bedroom... Now, I love couches."
And despite Streisand's impoverished roots, she didn't receive any encouragement to better herself - insisting her mother warned she wasn't "pretty enough" to become a star.
She adds, "(My mother would say) 'You'll never make it. You're not pretty enough."
However, the Evergreen singer believes it was her family's lack of encouragement that made her want to prove herself.
She says, "I owe her a lot because, in a sense, I was proving to my mother that this skinny, little girl, you know, unconventional looking, I suppose, could be a movie star."
- THE THINGS THEY SAY: BARBRA STREISAND
- FASCINATING FACT: BARBRA STREISAND
- STREISAND TO RELEASE INTERIOR DESIGN AND ARCHITECTURE BOOK
- STREISAND NEVER WATCHES HER OWN MOVIES, LISTENS TO HER MUSIC
- STREISAND, FREEMAN AND THE WHO STARS RECEIVE KENNEDY CENTER HONORS
- NE-YO ADDED TO STREISAND TRIBUTE
- STREISAND SLAMS MCCAIN'S CHOICE OF RUNNING MATE
- STREISAND'S GODDAUGHTER SERVED WITH RESTRAINING ORDER
- DIAMOND/STREISAND HAVE CLEVER DJS TO THANK FOR FLOWERS HIT
- STREISAND WANTS TO HELP OBAMA
Source: WENN
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS:
JONES HIRES CELEBRITY ATTORNEY TO BATTLE BRAWL CHARGES
Soccer star-turned-actor VINNIE JONES has a heavyweight legal team in his corner to fight assault charges - he has hired the same lawyer who defended MEL GIBSON and LINDSAY LOHAN.
MORE NEWS:
. JAZZ GREAT HUBBARD DIES
. MADONNA'S TOUR TOPS BIG-EARNERS POLL
. DUFFY BAGS BIGGEST SELLING ALBUM OF 2008
. MARTIN STOPPED BY SECURITY AT LONDON CONCERT
. ACTRESS LEIGH EXPECTING THIRD CHILD
. SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE GETS AFI NOD
. CONFUSION OVER DESCHANEL 'ENGAGEMENTS'
. BRUNI-SARKOZY ROMANCE UNCOVERED IN NEW FILM
. LOHAN'S DAD CALLS 'TRUCE'
. JAY-Z AND DASH'S SPLIT DOCUMENTARY PLANNED


