Barbra Streisand Says She Hasn't Had 'Much Fun' in Her Life Ahead of New Memoir Release

Barbra Streisand is getting candid about life in the limelight.

The actress and singer, 81, confessed that she “hasn’t had much fun” in life in an interview with the BBC ahead of the release of her memoir My Name Is Barbra on Tuesday.

“I want to live life," Streisand told the outlet.  "I want to get in my husband's truck and just wander, hopefully with the children somewhere near us.”

"Life is fun for me when they come over. They love playing with the dogs and we have fun,” she continued. "I haven't had much fun in my life, to tell you the truth. And I want to have more fun."

Streisand shares son Jason Gould, 56, with her actor ex-husband Elliot Gould. She is married to James Brolin and stepmom to his three children, Josh, 55, Jess, 51, and Molly, 36, and grandmother to Josh’s four kids: Trevor, 35, Eden, 29, Westlyn, 5, and Chapel, 2.

The legendary artist admitted that she is “a very private person” who “doesn’t enjoy stardom” as she reflected on finding fame early in the 1960s and the ridicule over her appearance she faced at the time.

Despite not liking fame very much, Streisand said that she knew from a young age that she wanted to be a performer.

"I was only five or six years old, and my little girlfriends and I used to sing together in the lobby,” the "Evergreen" musician shared.

Streisand was met, however, with indifference from her mom and stepfather over her dreams and interests in general. 

"I don't remember ever him talking to me or asking me any questions...How am I? How is school? Anything," she recalled in the interview. "I was never seen by him — or by my mother, either. She didn't see my passion for wanting to be an actress. She discouraged me."

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The singer eventually left home at 16 years old and landed a job as a theater usher, hoping to be one step closer to pursuing her dreams of being on Broadway. 

“I got paid $4.50, I think it was, but I always hid my face because I thought someday I'd be well-known," she said. "Isn't that funny? I didn't want people to recognize me on the screen and know that I once showed them to their seats."

Streisand broke into the industry after winning a talent show in a Manhattan bar. She then booked shows all around the city before landing her first major role in Funny Girl, opposite Sydney Chaplin.

The star said she couldn't fully enjoy the experience however due to Chaplin's treatment of her.

"I don't like to even talk about it," Streisand told the BBC. "It's just a person who had a crush on me —which was unusual — and when I said to him, 'I don't want to be involved with you,' he turned on me in such a way that was very cruel."

"It threw me. Sometimes I thought, 'What the hell is the next word?' I felt so flustered," she added.

Streisand added in her interview why she decided to share her story in her memoir.

"It was the only way to have some control over my life," said the EGOT winner. "This is my legacy. I wrote my story. I don't have to do any more interviews after this."

Celebrate Barbra Streisand's incredible career with the new PEOPLE Special Edition Barbra Streisand, available on newsstands and Amazon.com.