The actress was forced to eat her own words after she was hit by a huge media backlash against comments she had made.
In an interview with The Times, Barbra Streisand appeared to defend Michael Jackson and his alleged predatory behaviour towards children.
The 76-year-old was speaking in response to the highly publicised documentary, Leaving Neverland.
Released on Channel 4, the doc looks at Jackson’s relationship with young boys and brings child sexual abuse allegations to light.
The harrowing documentary focuses on the childhood experiences of two men — Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
Both men claim that the popstar sexually abused them as children over a period of a few years.
In the interview, Streisand said of Jackson’s alleged behaviour: “His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has.
She continued: ”You can say ‘molested’, but those children, as you heard say, they were thrilled to be there.”
The A Star Is Born actress then went on to say that, as both men went on to have children of their own, the abuse “didn’t kill them”.
Once the interview was published, readers immediately took to social media to express their outrage.
Streisand then issued a statement of apology, backtracking on the offensive remarks made.
It read: “To be crystal clear, there is no situation or circumstance where it is OK for the innocence of children to be taken advantage of by anyone.
“The stories these two young men shared were painful to hear, and I feel nothing but sympathy for them.”
The Hollywood A-lister also took to Instagram to express regret over her choice of words.
In an apology post, she wrote: “I am profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding I caused by not choosing my words more carefully about Michael Jackson and his victims because the words printed do not reflect my true feelings.”
She continued: “I didn’t mean to dismiss the trauma these boys experienced in any way.”
