Robert Redford did not want to star alongside Barbra Streisand in ‘The Way We Were’: book
Actor Robert Redford has told of the difficulties his wife told him about her affair with fellow actor Barbra Streisand in 1974.
In a new book, The Way We Were: My Marriage, My Secret, My Life to Tell, Redford revealed the tale of how one of Hollywood’s highest-paid stars felt the relationship was compromising her professional career.
The actor, who divorced his first wife, Lynn Redgrave, with whom he had three children, said they were very ‘close’ together until the affair came to light.
‘There would be nights when my wife and I would be on the same train and she’d sit next to me and open her bag and put my briefcase by her side,’ he told writer Christopher Lehmann-Hauber.
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Robert Redford (above, in character as John Wayne in True Grit) and Barbra Streisand did not get on for a sustained period during the filming of The Way We Were in 1974. But Redford said they were very ‘close… not at all a romance’ and he only realised their affair was developing when their daughter, Frances, was about 18
Redford said: ‘The next thing you know she comes tearing on to the set with a broken arm and we get on for a few days. Then we make a decision to keep the peace and that will be the end of it.
‘I never once made the comment: “That’s a terrible thing I’ve just heard about my wife.” Not once.’
In 1974, Redford was promoting his breakthrough film, True Grit, before launching his career as John Wayne in the John Wayne movie after he had been cast as the famed actor’s mentor in American Graffiti.
It was also during that time he began a relationship with actress Lynn Redgrave.
Redford and his wife divorced in 1987, the following year, but he still insists on maintaining their close marriage.
Their divorce took nearly 10 years, with Redford insisting it was the right thing for his family to go their separate ways.
But in the years following their separation, Redford was in regular contact with Lynn Redgrave, with whom he had a two-year-old son, Christopher