‘I Don’t Want to Be Compared to Her’: Jason Gould, 58, on Life as Barbra Streisand’s Son
See the surprising reasons why he never felt comfortable in the spotlight
Singer, actress and director Barbra Streisand has been an icon for six decades, and at 83, the diva has been busy as ever, as she recently released the album, The Secret of Life: Partners, Volume Two, which features duets with musical greats like Paul McCartney, Bob Dylan and James Taylor. Prior to that, her bestselling 970-page memoir, My Name Is Barbra, released in 2023, put her back at the forefront of the cultural conversation thanks to her dramatic, intricately detailed look at her rise to fame, her personal life and much more.
Over the years, Streisand’s relationships, including her marriages to actors Elliott Gould and James Brolin and her romances with producer Jon Peters, Baskin-Robbins heir Richard Baskin, and stars like Don Johnson, Richard Gere and Clint Eastwood, among others, have drawn much media attention. Her only child, Jason Gould, 58, has followed in her showbiz footsteps. Read on to learn about Jason’s career—and see what he’s said about his legendary mom.
Jason Gould’s early days
Barbra Streisand and Elliott Gould met while costarring in the Broadway play I Can Get It for You Wholesale in 1962. At the time, they were both young unknowns, but that wouldn’t be the case for long. The couple married in 1963, and Jason was born in 1966, when Streisand’s star was on the rise. Her marriage to Gould didn’t last, and the pair separated in 1969 and divorced in 1971, when Jason was just 5 years old.
As a child, Jason made his screen debut with an uncredited appearance in Streisand’s 1972 film Up the Sandbox. In 1989, he had a small role in the classic teen movie Say Anything . . . and he could also be seen in the films The Big Picture and Listen to Me that year. His highest-profile role came in 1991, when he played his mom’s son in The Prince of Tides, which she directed, produced and starred in. He then costarred in the 1996 action movie Subterfuge.
In 1997, Jason wrote, directed and starred in the autobiographical short film Inside Out, playing a child of celebrities who finds himself outed by a tabloid, which had unfortunately happened to him in real life in 1991. The short took a satirical approach to the ups and downs of being a nepo baby long before that term came into the lexicon, and Gould played his dad. The same year, he made his stage debut in the play The Twilight of the Golds on London’s West End. After that, he quit acting to focus on his music career.
Jason Gould’s music career—and what he’s said about his mom
Jason Gould released his debut EP in 2012 and accompanied Streisand onstage. They then duetted on the standard “How Deep Is the Ocean” on her 2014 album Partners. In 2017, Gould released his first full-length album, Dangerous Man. Most recently, he debuted a new EP, Sacred Days, in 2024.
Like many children of celebrities, Jason battled personal demons, as he struggled with alcoholism, but he said that recording his debut album helped him heal. He also admitted that having a larger-than-life musical mom initially made him anxious about following his own musical interests, telling People, “It was part of me that I was afraid to explore because my mother was an icon in that world. It was like, ‘I don’t want to be compared to her,’ so I dampened down that part of myself for a long time.”
Jason also spoke to People about the surreal experience of sharing the stage with Streisand, saying, “I didn’t know if I was going to pass out. I had never sung in front of anybody, so going in front of a stadium of 18,000 people was like, ‘How am I going to do this?’ It was a very personal moment with her. It just happened to be in front of 18,000 people. It was really about being of service to her and the music. And it wasn’t about me. I was just showing up.”
While Jason has followed in his mom’s footsteps as a musician, he still keeps a fairly low profile, explaining to People, “I’ve never felt comfortable in the spotlight, so I always hung out in the shadow. And yet, I need to create and express myself.”
Jason clearly takes a low-key approach to being the son of musical royalty, and when his debut album came out, he told Billboard, “The pressure of being compared, or judged is something I recognize I have no control over. And ultimately, I have to be authentic, so no matter who my mother is, it doesn’t really matter in the end. We are all products of our parents, though.”
Barbra Streisand’s sweet words about her son
Streisand and her son have a charming relationship, and she’s consistently praised him for his creative talents, which include not just music but also painting and pottery, and in her memoir (which Jason said he read “every darn page” of), she spoke movingly about him, writing, “Jason is innately creative, but he never wanted to be in the spotlight (as opposed to me at fourteen). He simply pursued whatever interested him and followed his own path.”
Reflecting on Jason’s music, she wrote, “I knew my son was smart, kind, and gentle, creative and artistic, but I didn’t know he had such an amazing voice. He had kept it to himself for so long, and then he went with his instinct, finally believing in his own talent, and had the courage to let it emerge.”
Jason Gould has an admirably grounded approach to his career, and while it hasn’t always been easy to have a famous mom, it’s lovely to see the mutual admiration and respect that he and Barbra Streisand have for each other.
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