Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis wanted to edit Barbra Streisand’s memoir, the legendary singer told Jimmy Fallon in a Tuesday appearance on The Tonight Show.
“In 1984, Jackie Kennedy came to me and said, ‘I’d love to be the editor of your book at Doubleday,’ and we had tea,” Streisand recalled. “She was just so lovely, but I wasn’t ready to do that then.”
Onassis worked at Doubleday as an associate editor in the 1970s, ’80s, and early ’90s, editing memoirs by Carly Simon, Diana Vreeland, and Michael Jackson.
Streisand’s memoir has been in the works for years, as Fallon jokingly noted, reminding the singer that she’s talked about the project on his show twice before.
“Were you lying to me, or are you working on this memoir?” Fallon asked. In response, Streisand held up some journals that she’s been keeping for years.
“I was always busy doing something else, so I would write in the journals, and then go on to something else,” she said. “Fortunately, the pandemic helped me finish the book. I’m almost finished.”
The audience cheered, and Fallon exclaimed, “No, this is what happened last time!”
“I’ve written 824 pages,” Streisand said. “And I still have the little epilogue to do. It’s coming out next year.”
Michael Schaub is a Texas-based journalist and regular contributor to NPR.
