We learned in October that Meryl Streep and her husband of 45 years, Don Gummer, had separated six years ago; naturally, he wasn’t on the red carpet with Streep on Sunday night at the Academy Museum Gala, where Streep was honored (appropriately) with the Icon Award.
Though Gummer wasn’t there, Streep had a poignant display of support in the form of the four kids she shares with him—who are all rarely photographed together. In addition to her four children—Henry, Mamie, Grace, and Louisa—Henry’s wife Tamryn Gummer and Grace’s husband Mark Ronson were on hand to celebrate Streep. Her three daughters all wore black, like their mother: Grace in a long-sleeve black gown, Mamie in a Bevza number with slashes at the bodice, and Louisa in a silver-embroidered A-line gown with an Edie Parker clutch, People reports.
Streep and Gummer met through her brother in 1978, as she was deep in mourning over the death of her boyfriend of two years, fellow actor John Cazale. Just six months later, in September 1978, she and Gummer married in the garden of her parents’ home. Although the fiercely private couple hadn’t been seen publicly together since the 2018 Oscars, it was still a surprise to many when their separation was announced earlier this year. Streep was seen wearing her wedding band as recently as October 20 at the 2023 Princesa de Asturias Awards in Spain.
Just as Streep’s marriage to Gummer was kept private, the entire Streep-Gummer family is rarely seen together in one place. Streep recently opened up to Vogue about her kids, specifically two movies they can’t get enough of: “Mean Girls and Romy and Michele’s High School Reunion are pretty much religious texts in my house,” she said in September. “Those are the movies that I rewatch with my girls the most to this day.”
And, though the family is private, all four of Streep’s kids have public-facing careers: all three of her daughters are actresses (the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree), and her son is a musician. “Acting—that’s praise, money, fulfillment,” Streep told The Washington Post in 1998. “Mothering—they don’t even say, ‘Thank you.’ They don’t even clear the table unless you say, ‘Excuuuse me…’ Real life, there’s no comparison to acting. I can’t really call acting work, since it’s secretly so fun. Even the difficult things; it’s satisfying to do the difficult things well. Acting isn’t like real life. Life is about not being sure: Is this the right school for this kid? All those uncertainties.”
What’s not uncertain? The four kids’ love for their mother.
