EXCLUSIVE: Dueling Divas – Inside Story of How Barbra Streisand and Jane Fonda Are at War Over Late Icon Robert Redford

Boastful Jane Fonda and Barbra Streisand are locked in a bitter feud after Fonda claimed that she should have delivered the tribute to the late Robert Redford at the Academy Awards – instead of the renowned songbird, RadarOnline.com can reveal.

Streisand, 83, made a much-anticipated appearance at the ceremony to honor the Oscar-winning director, actor and producer, who died in September at age 89, and warbled the title track from their 1973 flick The Way We Were.

But later that evening, Fonda said: "I want to know how come Streisand was up there doing that for Redford?"

The 88-year-old playfully poked the People singer by adding: "She only made one movie with him. I made four. I have more to say."

An insider confided: "Jane can try and play this down all she likes, but her comments touched a real nerve with Barbra. She's absolutely livid – and with good reason.

"Everyone knows how she and Jane were hugely competitive over Bob when he was alive. They would bicker and snipe behind each other's backs about one another to an extremely immature and petty degree. But they both had huge crushes on him and wanted to one-up each other at every opportunity, which made for an extremely tense vibe for all parties."

While Streisand and Redford only shared the screen in the Sydney Pollack-directed tearjerker, he and Fonda appeared in 1966's The Chase, 1967's Barefoot in the Park, 1979's The Electric Horseman and 2017's Our Souls at Night.

The insider said: "The fact that Jane has gone and ripped this Band-Aid off – on Oscar night of all times – is being seen by Barbra and the people around her as beyond the pale and throwing a dark shadow over the whole occasion."