Barbra Streisand Reveals Her and Husband James Brolin’s ‘Different Schedule’ and Why They Go to Bed ‘Very Late’

When Barbra Streisand answers the phone to chat with PEOPLE, it’s just after 2 p.m. local time in Los Angeles — but for the legendary star, the day is just beginning.

“We go to bed very late, so I’m still in bed,” Streisand, 83, explains in this week’s issue of her routine with husband James Brolin, 84. “We have a different schedule. We love the silence of the night.”

The EGOT-winning singer, actress and director has long built her life around sound, first through hit songs like “The Way We Were” and movies like Funny Girl; these days more through the giggles of her grandkids. So it’s understandable why she’d appreciate some peace and quiet.

Streisand and Brolin married in 1998 after meeting two years earlier at a dinner party orchestrated by friends. In recent months, she’s been focused on family (The Yentl star is mom to son Jason Gould, 58, with ex-husband Elliott Gould, and grandma to a brood that includes stepson Josh Brolin’s two young daughters Chapel, 4, and Westlyn, 6, and stepdaughter Molly’s son Soli, 3).

Kevin Mazur/Getty

Barbra Streisand and James Brolin in Los Angeles in August 2016
She celebrated her 27th wedding anniversary with Brolin on Tuesday, July 1, writing on Instagram, “We met on a blind date 29 years ago tonight, and we married 27 years ago today. I love you honey. B xo. ❤️”

Brolin joked on the Today show in April that he and his wife’s best investment over the years was their mattress.

“Don’t misunderstand me. We’re both lazy. We love to sleep late,” he said. “We do a lot of our work on the phone, on paper, reading, right next to each other.”

Streisand — who released her bestselling memoir My Name Is Barbra in November 2023 — is currently wading back into the spotlight with a new duets album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, which she released on June 27. The record features an impressive roster of collaborators, including Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan, Tim McGraw, Ariana Grande and Mariah Carey.

Streisand says that McCartney, 83, was the first person on board when it came time to recruit singing partners.

“He was so sweet to me when I first came to London. I was there in the ‘60s, I think, and he invited me to his house with his wife Linda,” she recalls. “It was just so kind of him, and he’s so wonderful. He’s such a great writer and I admire him, so that’s a no-brainer. [He] was the first one.”

Kathryn Boyd Brolin

Barbra Streisand’s new album cover
The Secret of Life marks Streisand’s first new album in seven years, following Walls in 2018. The star says all of the “wonderful people” who performed with her on the new album were catalysts for her return to the studio — and she’s not done yet. Does the 10-time Grammy winner have another album in her?

“God, yeah. As long as I have a voice, I love the privacy of recording,” she says. “I love standing there in front of the mic and the music in my ears and singing. When I was 18 years old, I made my mother call up publishers to get free music. I still have that person inside, that kid. There are more songs I want to sing.”