Jane Fonda has expressed genuine surprise that Barbra Streisand is still upset over comments she made in March regarding her 2026 Oscars tribute to Robert Redford, following his passing in September 2025 at the age of 89, according to an insider.
After Streisand performed the title song from their 1973 film The Way We Were during the “In Memoriam” segment of the Oscars on March 15, Fonda told Entertainment Tonight at an after-party, “I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford? She only made one movie with him. I made four. I have more to say.”
The backlash was significant. “It’s put her in the doghouse in a lot of social circles,” the source revealed, including in Malibu where she is “the undisputed queen bee.”
The insider added, “Malibu social circles reacted negatively and that Streisand was offended.”
Two-time Oscar winner Fonda, 88, tried to mend things by speaking positively at the TCM Classic Film Festival last month.
“By the way, Barbra came on the Oscars thing to honor Bob,” Fonda said at the TCM Classic Film Festival opening night’s Barefoot in the Park screening in Hollywood on Thursday, April 30. “I was on the press line, and I thought I was being funny. I said, ‘Why did they ask [Streisand]? I made four movies with him.’ But actually, I thought it was fabulous that they had Barbra out there, because that was such an iconic movie and the song was so incredibly beautiful.”
She added, “Bob would have liked it.”
However, two-time Oscar winner Streisand, 84, feels it’s “too little, too late,” the outlet claimed.
“The damage has already been done,” the insider told The National Examiner. “Streisand was very offended when Jane made those catty remarks. It touched a major nerve, and even now the apology feels hollow and staged as opposed to anything genuine.”
A source previously told the tabloid the actresses “were hugely competitive over Redford.”
“Jane can grovel and try to weasel her way out of this all she wants, but once you’ve crossed Barbra, that’s it,” the insider claimed. “You’re done.”
Fonda appeared in four films with Redford, including the 1966 crime caper The Chase, 1968 romantic comedy Barefoot in the Park, 1979 dramatic comedy The Electric Horseman and 2017 romantic drama Our Souls at Night.
“He was meant to be in movies,” Fonda said of Redford at the screening on Thursday, April 30. “He was a brilliant movie star. He also was the most gorgeous human being I had ever been with. He was very smart and he was really funny. He loved practical jokes, and he was reckless. Not so reckless that he would have an affair with me…”
She continued, “I met him on The Chase and, oh my G–…I mean, we were both married, and I asked him, ‘Do you ever have affairs?’ And he had this weird answer. He said, ‘Well, if I was gonna have an affair, it would be with somebody that was like a hooker.’”
Streisand and Redford teamed up on 1973 period drama The Way We Were, which told the tale of a tragic romance and was nominated for six Oscars.
In her 2023 memoir, My Name is Barbra, she recalled, “It’s hard to explain why a certain combination of two actors works, but in one interview, Bob tried: ‘Barbra… her femininity brings out the masculinity in a man, and her masculinity brings out a man’s femininity, vulnerability, romanticism, whatever you want to call it.’ No wonder I liked him. He’s very perceptive.”
Of The Way We Were, she said, “I think it’s one of Bob’s best performances…and probably one of mine as well…and I’m thrilled whenever I see us listed as one of the screen’s most romantic couples. We made something that will last a long time…much longer than most real marriages.”
