Meryl Streep and Husband Don Gummer Have Been Separated for 6 Years
It's complicated for Meryl Streep and Don Gummer.
The longtime couple broke up and have been separated for years, her spokesperson told Page Six Oct. 20.
"Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than 6 years," the rep shared, "and while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart."
The Oscar winner and sculptor tied the knot in 1978 and went on to welcome four kids: Henry, 43, Mamie, 40, Grace, 37, and Louisa, 32.
The spouses' last public appearance together was at the 2018 Academy Awards.
Their love story traces back decades, with Gummer even attending Streep's first Oscars show with her in 1979 as newlyweds. While she didn't get to thank him in 1983 when she won the statue for Sophie's Choice, the Mamma Mia! star made it up to him when she took home her third trophy in 2012.
"First, I'm going to thank Don," she said, "because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech they play him out with the music, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you've given me."
The pair—who both attended Yale University—also saw their daughters enter the world of Hollywood. Grace has appeared in The Newsroom, American Horror Story and Frances Ha; Mamie in The Good Fight, The Good Wife and The Lifeguard; and Louisa in The Gilded Age.
As for their son, he pursued music under the stage name Henry Wolfe.
"The fact that my mom is who she is can be overshadowing," Henry previously told The Daily News, per People. "Sometimes I worry that my story isn't good enough. Sure, my mom is part of the story and I don't get pissed when people ask me about her, but I wish I had something that could eclipse that as far as compelling storylines."
He added, "There are a certain amount of assumptions that go along with that, which tend to not be fair, like the recognition somehow helps me. But it also hurts because people start to think that I don't work hard and they don't take me seriously."
Streep, 74, holds the record for most Oscar nominations of any actor with 21, including for her roles in The Post, Into the Woods, The Iron Lady, The Devil Wears Prada, Out of Africa and Kramer vs. Kramer.
While she and Gummer are no longer honey, honeys, look back on their love story over the past 45 years:
Gummer's first Oscars ceremony in 1979 was also Streep's first, when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Deer Hunter. Their son, Henry Wolfe Gummer, was born that November.
Streep won her first Oscar, Best Supporting Actress, the following year, for Kramer vs. Kramer. She practically vaulted out of her seat and gave co-star Dustin Hoffman, who was sitting in front of her and would win Best Actor later in the night, a big kiss on the cheek. She then gave a rather short speech that confined her thank-yous to colleagues.
The theater buffs took in a performance of Crimes of the Heart in New York in 1981.
Streep won her first Best Actress Oscar in 1983 for her devastatingly good turn in Sophie's Choice. "Marvelous Meryl Streep," as presenter Sylvester Stallone called her, gave Gummer a big kiss before heading to the stage. Perhaps overcome with emotion, she forgot to thank him. Or, maybe she was busy thinking about the fact that she was pregnant. Daughter Mamie Gummer was born that August.
It must be nice never having to worry about finding a date. Gummer was by Streep's side at the 1995 premiere of The Bridges of Madison County, about an Italian-born housewife whose body and soul come alive when she meets a photographer passing through her small town, for which she'd earn her 10th Oscar nomination. (Side note: she didn't care for the book, but was won over by the screenplay.)
At the end of the day, it's all about these private moments.
Surely they consider their family—(L-R) Henry, Louisa, Grace and Mamie—to be their greatest work of art, but in 2004 the American Film Institute gave Streep the Life Achievement Award for her movies.
In 2007, nominated for The Devil Wears Prada, Streep made it a family affair with her husband and daughter Grace Gummer.
Another day, another country, another lifetime achievement gala honoring Streep, this one in Spain in 2008.
She was reminded of who her biggest fan is at the 2011 NYC premiere of The Iron Lady.
"First, I'm going to thank Don," Streep said when she got onstage to accept her Best Actress Oscar for The Iron Lady in 2012. "Because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech, they play him out with the music, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you've given me."
Sometimes it's nice just to watch. They bundled up for the New York Philharmonic Spring Gala performance of Sweeney Todd at Lincoln Center in 2014.
Going to Knicks games may give Streep a chance to practice her "long-suffering" expression, but on this night in 2014 she was the all-star at Madison Square Garden, with 50 Cent and Kobe Bryant asking for pictures.
Streep, an honoree in 2011, was invited to pay tribute to 2014 honoree Sting at the Kennedy Center Honors. So much honoring, but the honor was all Don Gummer's.
The longtime loves lean on each other at a benefit dinner in L.A.
Well, it might, but at least they have each other. Streep received her record-for-any-actor 21st Oscar nomination in 2018 for her portrayal of legendary Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham in The Post.