Barbra Streisand Claims Mandy Patinkin Wanted to Have an 'Affair' With Her

Barbra Streisand; Mandy Patinkin

Barbra Streisand is spilling the tea on former co-star Mandy Patinkin.

The legendary singer and actress opens up in her new memoir, My Name Is Barbra, about her time working with Patinkin, who she claims once suggested having an affair with her.

According to Streisand's account, it happened on the set of Streisand's directorial debut film, Yentl, which premiered in 1983. The "Tell Him" songstress recalled casting Patinkin to play Avigdor opposite her own role as the titular character.

But as written in her newly released book, Streisand, 81, said Patinkin was the only person who "disturbed my equilibrium" while the movie was in production, as he was reportedly often difficult on set.

"'I thought we were going to have a more personal relationship,'" Streisand remembered Patinkin, now 70, stating during a rather heated meeting in her dressing room toward the beginning of the movie's production, per PEOPLE.

'"What?' I had no idea what he was talking about," Streisand continued. "[Patinkin says] 'I thought we were going to have an affair.'"

Following Patinkin's comments, Streisand said she "looked at him as if he were crazy."

"1) I would never have an affair with an actor I was directing, 2) he was married, and 3) I wasn’t at all attracted to him," she further wrote. "But I couldn’t tell him he was not exactly fascinating to me. I didn’t want to hurt his feelings, so I simply said, 'I don’t operate that way.' Tears rolled down his cheeks."

Parade reached out to Patinkin's reps, but did not immediately hear back.

Streisand also recalled having to tell Patinkin that she would replace him on the film if he didn't change his difficult behavior on set, which she said made her life "miserable" for months.

She even ended up rewriting a scene where her character was supposed to sleep with Patinkin's, admitting, "Now that I look back on it, I wonder if I allowed my frustration with Mandy to overrule my instincts."

"Maybe I should have let Yentl . . . and the audience . . . have that moment," she wrote, although the film still reached massive success, earning Streisand a best director Golden Globe and an Oscar for Best Original Song Score.

The brand new memoir, My Name is Barbra, is out now.

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