Barbra Streisand Was Married Twice: Meet Husband James Brolin and Ex-Husband Elliott Gould

Songstress Barbra Streisand has won the love of fans all over the world! In her personal life, the EGOT winner found love with her longtime spouse, James Brolin. While the couple have been living a life of wedded bliss for more than two decades, Barbra still maintains a friendship with her ex-husband.

Who Was Barbra Streisand’s First Husband?

The “Woman in Love” singer crossed paths with her first husband, Elliott Gould, in 1962 when she was auditioning for a role in I Can Get It for You Wholesale. After starring together in the Broadway musical, Barbra and Elliot hit it off and became a couple.

While living together in a small apartment over a seafood restaurant in New York City, the Funny Girl star and the M*A*S*H actor made their love official when they got married in 1963. The former pair became the proud parents of their only son, Jason Gould, just three years later in 1966. Barbra and the Long Goodbye actor called it quits by 1971.

Following his divorce from Barbra in 1971, the Ocean’s Eleven actor tied the knot with Jennifer Bogart in 1973. The former couple welcomed kids Samuel Gould and Molly Gould before going their separate ways in 1975. However, their love story wasn’t over as Elliott and the actress reunited in 1978. The ex-pair walked down the aisle once again before calling it quits for the second and final time just a year later in 1979.

Although it’s been decades since Elliott and Barbra called it quits, his ex-lover is “a very significant part of [his] life,” the Hollywood alum revealed to Closer Weekly in 2017. “No less significant than the rest of my family — Jason is the light of our lives. Barbra adores him. So, we have contact.”

How Did Barbra Streisand Meet Second Husband James Brolin?

Following her divorce from Elliott, the A Star is Born actress found love again with James in the mid-’90s. At the time, Barbra met the Life in Pieces actor at a dinner party.  

“[I] expected a bearded mountain-man type, and he had cut off all his hair and was clean-shaven,” she recalled to W Magazine in November 2016 of James. “I asked him, ‘Who screwed up your hair?’ … He later told me that’s when he fell in love with me.”

Barbra and James’ whirlwind romance quickly took off and the two were married by July 1998. Although they never welcomed any children together, the Prince of Tides actress effortlessly filled in as the stepmom of her hubby’s three kids, Josh Brolin, Jess Brolin and Molly Brolin, from previous relationships.

While it’s been almost 30 years since Barbra and James walked down the aisle, the longtime lovebirds are still as infatuated with each other as the day they said, “I do.” In fact, the Amityville Horror actor revealed how their relationship continues to be so successful after more than two decades together. 

Ahead of the couple’s milestone 20th wedding anniversary in July 2018, James exclusively dished on the secret to their loving bond.

“I’m easygoing, but I’m very opinionated. And she likes to control everything,” he told Closer at the time. “I’m laconic and never get anything done. But she’ll zero in on one thing after the other, so that’s what makes ours a great marriage.”

“We are the best of friends,” James gushed to Bella magazine in January 2019. “A new marriage is a love affair, and then it becomes a friendship, and a lot of people don’t realize how great that is. They question where their love affair went.” 

How Barbra and James’ Love Inspired a Hit Aerosmith Song

The couple remains just as in love in 2024. In November 2023, Barbra appeared as a guest on The Howard Stern Show and she revealed that a conversation with James was what led to the inspiration behind Aerosmith’s hit song “I Don’t Want to Miss A Thing.”

She said that she and James were cuddled up in bed when he told her, “I don’t want to fall asleep because then I’ll miss you.”

Barbra later recounted the moment in an interview with Barbara Walters, which Diane Warren happened to be watching. Diane was enamored by the line and she jotted it down and she later incorporated it into the song that became the chart topper from Aerosmith.