Barbra Streisand recently retold the story of how a comment her now-husband James Brolin made to the legendary singer, actor, and director while they were in bed was the inspiration for “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” Aerosmith’s chart-topping 1998 hit.
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Earlier this week, Streisand made her first appearance on SiriusXM’s The Howard Stern Show, part of her promotional activities for her new memoir, My Name Is Barbra. During the show, Stern asked the lauded entertainer about an incident she wrote about in the book, explaining that acclaimed songwriter Diane Warren had been watching a Barbara Walters interview with Streisand and Brolin in 1997 when Streisand recounted a romantic incident between the couple when they were dating that helped her decide to marry him.
“We’re spooning. We’ve done our bits, whatever, and I’m about to fall asleep, and [James] says … ‘I don’t want to fall asleep because then I’ll miss you,’” Streisand said to Stern, remembering the incident she talked about with Walters. “Oh my God … ‘Okay, yes, I’ll marry you.’”
Stern then pointed out, “And that’s how [‘I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing’] got written.”
“That’s right,” Streisand confirmed. “Diane Warren was watching [the Walters interview,] she told me, [and] wrote it down. It was a powerful line, right?”
Aerosmith recorded “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing” for the soundtrack of the 1998 sci-fi disaster film Armageddon, and the song became the rock band’s first and only No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100.
Streisand and Brolin wound up getting married in July of 1998 and recently celebrated their 25th anniversary.
Streisand also discussed a variety of other topics with Stern, including her friendship with another legendary singer, Judy Garland, with whom she famously duetted in 1963 on an episode of a variety show Garland hosted.
The two stars sang a mashup of “Happy Days Are Here Again” and “Get Happy” in a performance that’s considered an iconic TV moment. Stern asked Streisand how she felt to be performing alongside the Hollywood legend, who also had long struggled with drug abuse.
“I was thrilled to be singing with her,” Streisand explained. “I thought she sang so brilliantly, that show. Yeah, much better than me.”
Streisand also noted that Garland was a “kind and truthful [and] supportive” person, recalling that on the show, “She grasped my hand while we were singing together. She was holding on to me. She needed support.” She added that she and Garland “became close friends.”
My Name Is Barbra is a 992-page tome that took Streisand 10 years to complete. The book was released on Tuesday, November 7.
Photo by Giulio Marcocchi/Getty Images
