In March 2026, a rumor circulated online that singer Barbra Streisand had been diagnosed with glioblastoma, an aggressive form of brain cancer.
For example, on March 17, a Facebook post read:
BREAKING NEWS: Beloved music icon Barbra Streisand is facing the most difficult battle of her life after being diagnosed with Glioblastoma — one of the most dangerous forms of brain cancer.
Each day is a fight against pain, loss, and dwindling strength. For decades, Streisand's voice has inspired generations through timeless songs, unforgettable performances, and a career that reshaped music and entertainment around the world.
Now, fans everywhere are coming together with messages of hope, gratitude, and support for the legendary performer who has meant so much to so many.
The post included an image showing Streisand posing outdoors, overlaid with a "BREAKING NEWS" banner and text claiming she was diagnosed with stage IV brain cancer.
For months, versions of the rumor spread on social media platforms including Instagram and Facebook, and Snopes readers contacted us to ask whether the claim was true.
We first used search engines such as Bing, DuckDuckGo, Google and Yahoo to locate possible evidence from credible sources about Streisand having glioblastoma. If the story were true, journalists with reputable news outlets, such as The Associated Press or Reuters, would have widely reported on it. That was not the case.
The rumor was fictional. It originated from Facebook pages and blog pages that use artificial intelligence tools to create inspiring or shocking stories about public figures. Therefore, we've rated this claim false.
The image in the above post about Streisand supposedly having stage IV brain cancer is a product of generative AI software. It displayed several signs of AI generation, including an unnaturally polished portrait style, overly smooth skin and a "breaking news" overlay.
Creators of such content capitalize on social media users' willingness to believe and share the made-up stories, profiting from advertising revenue on external websites to which the posts link. (Snopes has previously reported on the business strategy.)
We contacted a manager of the Timeless Vocal Legacy Facebook page to ask why it had created the false story about Streisand supposedly having glioblastoma without a disclaimer to note its inauthenticity. We will update this story if we receive a response.
Many posts spreading the false rumor about Streisand supposedly having glioblastoma included links in the comment sections to articles on WordPress blogs. The comments promised more details about Streisand's supposed condition in the links. For example, one post promoted this advertisement-filled story.
The article displayed several signs of AI-generated text. It relied on vague, emotionally charged language, and presented a grave medical claim without citing a hospital, doctor, spokesperson, family member or representative. GPTZero, a tool that aims to detect AI-generated text, determined with 100% certainty the article's text was AI-generated.
Moreover, the article employed an anti-crawling technique that involves visually substituting certain Latin letters with similar-looking characters from other alphabets. For instance, the Cyrillic letter "п" appeared in place of the Latin letter "n."
Other AI-detection tools, including Sightengine and Hive Moderation, also determined the image in the post was likely AI-generated.
Let us note here: These types of AI-detection tools are fallible. Snopes cautions people against using them for definitive answers on media's authenticity without supporting evidence.
Snopes has debunked similar rumors before. For example, in March 2026, we traced the source of a false story about Greta Thunberg being diagnosed with stage IV glioblastoma spreading via similar methods.