During Sunday’s Oscars, Jane Fonda made headlines with her outspoken critique of Barbra Streisand’s participation in a tribute to the late Robert Redford. The 88-year-old actress expressed her dissatisfaction with the decision, insisting that her own connection with Redford was far more significant.
Fonda, who has shared the screen with Redford in four films, including classics such as “Tall Story,” “The Chase,” “Barefoot in the Park,” and “The Electric Horseman,” felt she was better suited to honor the actor. In contrast, Streisand, 83, worked alongside Redford in just one film, the 1973 hit “The Way We Were.”
Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Fonda voiced her bewilderment, saying, “I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford. She only made one movie with him; I made four!”
Fonda didn’t hold back her admiration for Redford, adding, “I was always in love with him. He was the most gorgeous human being and had such great values. He did a lot for movies – he lifted up independent films.”
Fonda added she has ‘more to say’ about Redford, as she continued, ‘I was always in love with him.
‘[He was] the most gorgeous human being and had such great values. He did a lot for movies – he lifted up independent movies.’
It just goes to show that a Hollywood feud can pop up no matter what age you are. On Oscar Sunday, a fresh feud was born between octogenarian icons Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand
And it was over the Academy’s tribute to Robert Redford, who died last year
Streisand honored Redford with a speech and singing performance during the awards show’s In Memoriam segment.
Oscar-winning star Redford died in his sleep in September 2025, after a legendary career spanning seven decades.
‘After I read the first script of The Way We Were, I could only imagine one man in the role and that was Robert Redford. But he turned it down because he said the character had no backbone,’ she recalled about Redford.
‘He doesn’t stand for anything — and he was right. So many drafts later, Bob finally agreed to do it. He was a brilliant, subtle actor, and we had a wonderful time playing off each other because we never quite knew what the other one was going to do in a scene.’
Streisand praised Redford as well. ‘He was thoughtful and bold,’ she shared. ‘I called him a little intellectual cowboy who blazed his own trail. I miss him now more than ever.’
The actress concluded by singing The Way We Were from their film.
When news broke of Redford’s death last year, Streisand shared an emotional statement on Instagram.
‘Every day on the set of The Way We Were was exciting, intense and pure joy,’ Streisand wrote in September. ‘We were such opposites: he was from the world of horses; I was allergic to them! Yet, we kept trying to find out more about each other, just like the characters in the movie.’
Fonda argued that it really should have been her onstage as she made four films with the legend – Tall Story, The Chase, Barefoot In The Park (above) and The Electric Horseman
Redford and Fonda in 2017 during the 74th Venice Film Festival
Streisand co-starred in only one movie with him, The Way We Were in 1973
She continued: ‘Bob was charismatic, intelligent, intense, always interesting— and one of the finest actors ever. The last time I saw him, when he came to lunch, we discussed art and decided to send each other our first drawings. He was one of a kind and I’m so grateful to have had the opportunity to work with him. #RobertRedford.’
Fonda and Redford made four movies together and also the 2017 Netflix movie Our Souls at Night.
Rachel McAdams paid tribute to women who died, singling out Diane Keaton.
‘Believe me when I say there isn’t an actress of my generation who was not inspired by and enthralled with her absolute singularity,’ she said.
Redford and Streisand seen in 2002 at the 74th Academy Awards
McAdams recited a Girl Scout song and poem Keaton used to say on film sets: ‘Make new friends, but keep the old. One is silver, the other is gold. A circle is round, it has no end. That’s how long, I will be your friend.’
Billy Crystal remembered his best friend Rob Reiner in an extended and emotional in memoriam at the Oscars on Sunday.
Crystal opened the segment that was longer than usual because of the number of Hollywood heavyweights who died over the last year.
Crystal first met Reiner in 1975 when he guested on ‘All in the Family.’
‘I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford,’ Fonda told the site. ‘She only made one movie with him, I made four!’
‘And it went so well, Rob said, `It was so much fun playing your best friend, why don´t we keep it going?´’ Crystal said. ‘And it was a thrill seeing him evolve from a great comic actor to a master storyteller.’
Crystal recounted such Reiner films as The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally, A Few Good Men, Say Anything and This is Spinal Tap.
The segment ended with over a dozen stars from those films – including Meg Ryan, Kiefer Sutherland, Fred Savage, Demi Moore, John Cusack and Ione Skye – standing together on stage.
Reiner, an actor-director, and his wife, photographer Michele Singer Reiner, both in their 70s, were found stabbed to death in their Los Angeles home last December. Their son, Nick Reiner, has been charged in the deaths of his parents and has pleaded not guilty.
