Barbra Streisand is done with New York. After decades of calling the city home, the singer and actress says she is packing her bags and joining the growing line of wealthy residents heading for the exits, blaming what she calls the city’s “communist takeover” under Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The announcement came on the sidewalk outside her Manhattan penthouse, where a small group of reporters had gathered after word spread that moving trucks had been spotted on the block. Streisand, wearing oversized sunglasses and clutching a garment bag, stopped to talk and didn’t hold much back.
“Mamdani said he was only coming after billionaires,” she said, her voice cracking. “I worked my whole life for that money.”
She paused, dabbed at her eyes, and kept going. People close to the star say the move is mostly about protecting what she has built for her family. According to one longtime friend, Streisand has been worried for months that her grandchildren’s inheritance would end up paying for the mayor’s long list of socialist programs, from city-run grocery stores to free buses.
“She’s not angry at New Yorkers,” the friend said. “She’s angry that the people she defended for years turned around and handed the keys to a guy who wants to tax everything that moves.”
