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.”
That frustration came through clearly when a reporter asked whether she had supported progressive candidates in the past. Streisand didn’t dodge the question.
“This is what you get when you vote with your feelings and not your brain,” she said, before climbing into a waiting SUV.
The remark spread quickly online. Critics were quick to point out that Streisand has spent years as one of Hollywood’s loudest voices for Democratic causes, raising money and lending her name to campaigns across the country. Supporters of the mayor called the moment a perfect example of the rich wanting progressive politics right up until the bill arrives.
Others were more sympathetic. A real estate agent who works with high-end clients on the Upper East Side said she has heard the same story again and again since Mamdani took office.
“People are scared about what comes next,” the agent said. “Taxes, rent rules, all of it. Barbra just said out loud what a lot of my clients have been whispering.”
Where Streisand will land is still unclear. Some reports point to her sprawling Malibu estate, while others suggest she is quietly looking at properties in Florida, a state that has welcomed a steady stream of New York transplants in recent years. A representative did not say which way she is leaning.
The mayor’s office, meanwhile, brushed off the departure. A spokesperson said the city “will continue to work for every New Yorker, whether they live in a penthouse or a walk-up,” and noted that the administration’s policies are aimed at the city’s very richest residents.
For Streisand, that reassurance seems to have come too late. Her neighbors say the boxes have been going out the door all week, and the doorman has already started calling it “the end of an era.”