There was a detail that did not escape some media specializing in heart news when Meryl Streep (New Jersey, 74 years old) traveled through Oviedo on Friday to accept the Princess of Asturias Prize for the Arts: the actress was not accompanied by her husband of 45 years, the sculptor Don Gummer, who is also the father of her four children, but she was arm in arm with her brother, the artist and painter Harry William Streep. This Saturday, the American newspaper Page Six revealed the reason for this absence: “Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than six years, and although they will always care for each other, they have chosen different paths,” a spokesperson for the couple shared the publication with.
The news caused a stir, especially after the actress’s visit to Oviedo, where a mass bath was held in honor of her entire career. Also because the actor and the sculptor were considered one of the strongest couples in the industry and appeared year after year on the lists of Hollywood’s longest-lasting couples.
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The couple said “I do” in 1978, shortly after her brother introduced them to each other. Streep previously had a relationship with actor John Cazale, a regular in Francis Ford Coppola’s films (he appeared in both 1974’s “The Conversation” and “The Godfather” and “The Godfather II”), who was diagnosed with lung cancer and who died in 1978 After Cazale’s death, the actress left their house because she couldn’t bear the loss. By chance, Gummer, his brother’s friend, offered him his apartment in New York because the sculptor was traveling a lot for work and it was empty. It didn’t take long for the spark to fly and they married in the fall of 1978.
At that time, the American tabloids reacted harshly to the actress’s decision and did not predict a long marriage for the young couple. They were wrong. The couple has four children: Henry, 43, Mamie, 40, Grace, 37, and Louisa Jacobson, 32. All children have continued the family’s artistic tradition: Henry is a singer-songwriter and the three daughters have tried their hand at it in the world of acting.
In an interview with Vogue magazine in 2002 and this Saturday by Page Six, Meryl Streep was asked about the secret of her long marriage: “Good will and willingness and giving in, but also silence now and then.” There is no plan how When you start a family, it’s always a negotiation. But I have a primary need to work and develop romantic relationships in my life,” the actress replied.
The last time the couple was seen in public was at the 2018 Academy Awards. Streep was nominated for her role in the film “The Pentagon Files” directed by Steven Spielberg, although the statuette for her performance was ultimately awarded went to Frances McDormand. in three advertisements on the suburbs.