Barbra Streisand revealed her former flame Andre Agassi once hid himself in the trunk of his car to avoid a media frenzy while meeting her for dinner.
It was the 1990s prelude to Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce — Barbra repeatedly appeared in the stands at Andre’s tennis matches, setting off a maelstrom of publicity that left fans ravenous for details about their relationship.
When Andre and Barbra first link
In the case of Barbra and Andre, however, the attention came with a sting, frequently zeroing in on the yawning 28-year age gap between them, as Andre was 22 and Barbra was 50 when they were first linked.
Both of them have played coy about the true nature of their equation, with Andre describing their ‘forbidden’ connection as ‘nothing more than a passionate friendship’ while also dishing: ‘Dating Barbra Streisand is like wearing hot lava.’
Now, in her new memoir My Name Is Barbra, the legendary songstress has relayed her side of the ‘fun’ she had with Andre – and the lengths they went to in order to retain a few precious vestiges of privacy.
While she was in London to watch him in Wimbledon 1993, she went to a restaurant with a group of friends including Donna Karan, and ‘[w]hen Andre joined us for dinner, his driver actually hid him in the trunk of the car (it was funny at the time).’
Barbra replied: ‘Who?’
At the time of that slapstick night on the town, Barbra was 51 years old – and Andre, at the height of his tennis stardom, was just 23.
They first struck up a rapport in 1992 after hotel tycoon Steve Wynn called Barbra to tell her Andre ‘admired’ her – to which Barbra replied: ‘Who?’
‘Since I don’t follow sports, I hadn’t heard of him,’ she explained in her book.
‘Steve explained that he was a tennis champion who was going to be playing at Wimbledon, so I said: “Oh, wish him well from me.”‘
Andre persisted in his quest to make her acquaintance, calling her up to compliment her on her new film The Prince Of Tides, which marked her second stint in the director’s chair after her debut with Yentl.
‘We ended up talking for two hours,’ wrote Barbra, who at that point still had no idea what the lusted-after tennis champ even looked like.
When Wimbledon began she finally watched him on TV, and was struck not only by his athletic prowess but also the fact he was ‘nice-looking, and had good teeth!’
Andre famously won his first Grand Slam at Wimbledon that year, eliciting a congratulations telegram from Barbra.
