Oh Babs!

I can't decide if this is the worst or the best recent picture of Barbra Streisand that I have seen. On one hand, it's a candid paparazzi shot, so it's not like it's posed with Barbra in full makeup and wardrobe, and I'm relatively certain that the airbrush (which is applied quite liberally to photos of her these days) has not been utilized. Barbra has also rather obviously gained some weight since the mid 90s, so it's definitely not her at her most glamorous.

On the other hand, what I think I do love about it is that it's very much the portrait of a woman that is comfortable with getting older and is no longer interested in playing the Hollywood glamour game. She's 65 years old for Pete's sake and certainly can't keep up with the young starlets now. I think that I kind of admire her for not doing that, for recognizing where she is at this point in her career. As she has so frequently said, there she is flaws (and double chin) and all.

And besides, these skinny anorexic (in some cases, they really are anorexic) things that try to pass as beautiful really don't do much for me. Give me a real woman any day over those stick insects (oops, went all Bridget Jones there for a second!)