It’s a good thing Barbra Streisand didn’t listen to her mother!

Convinced her daughter — "too skinny" and "not pretty enough" — would never make it as an actress, Mama Streisand suggested she go into the school system. Streisand, of course, wouldn’t hear it and followed her dreams to the big screen, stage, television and almost everywhere else. Now, having garnered Grammys and Oscars, Streisand this month picked up one of the nation’s top artistic honors: a Kennedy Center Honor. And, in honor of the event, Streisand sat down with CBS’s Early Show to discuss her landmark career, including defying her mom. Said Streisand of her youthful determination:

She kept saying, she was a school secretary, she kept saying, "You have free vacations, summers off and this is going to be good for you." I kept saying, "But, mom, I want to be an actress." "No, you’ll never make it. You’re not pretty enough, you’re not this enough, you’re too skinny." I was always very skinny. But I owe her a lot because, in a sense, I was proving to my mother that this skinny little girl, unconventional looking, I suppose, could be a movie star.

Indeed she did, growing past her dirt-poor roots and into one of the world’s biggest celebrities. And, like so many meteoric women, Streisand’s been plagued by criticism of her "difficult" nature. That nature, she insists, is simply a myth. 

Maybe in the search for the — striving for excellence, I think may be perceived as difficult. It’s not perfection because there is no such thing as perfection. I remember writing in my journal when I was 15, observing an acting class, that perfection was imperfection. Because, otherwise, it’s inhuman, you know? It’s almost too perfect.

Streisand wasn’t the only legendary entertainer to take home an honor this year: The Who’s Peter Townsend and Roger Daltrey, George Jones, Morgan Freeman and Twyla Tharp were all celebrated for their respective works and contributions. Streisand’s in pretty good company, no? Not that we’re surprised by this funny girl.