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Meryl Streepand Don Gummer’smarriage is over— and has been for more than six years.
In October 2023, PEOPLE learned that Streep and Gummer, who met in 1978 andgot married just six months later, have been separated for nearly a decade. The couple sharefour children: Henry, Mamie, Grace and Louisa.
Gummer and Streep have not been seen publicly together since the 2018 Oscars. However, theOnly Murders in the Buildingactress still wears her wedding band.
So, who is Meryl Streep’s estranged husband? Keep reading for everything there is to know about Don Gummer.
He is a visual artist
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Gummer was born in Louisville, Kentucky, in December 1946, according tohis website. He is asculptorwho graduated from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and later earned an MFA from Yale University. He creates large-scale abstract contemporary sculptures, and he has consistently had solo and group exhibitions in galleries around the world since 1973.
He met Streep at a difficult time in her life
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When Gummer first met Streep, she was mourning the death of her boyfriend of two years,John Cazale. Cazale was also an actor, starring in movies likeThe GodfatherandThe Deer Hunter,his final film and the only time he and Streep shared the screen. Cazale died of lung cancer in March 1978.
As detailed in Michael Schulman’s biographyHer Again: Becoming Meryl Streep, the actress needed to move out of the apartment she shared with Cazale, so her brother showed up to help, and he brought along a friend: Gummer. Streep ended up subletting Gummer’s New York City apartment while he traveled, and shefilmedKramer vs. Kramer— the movie that landed her her first Oscar. Streep and Gummer became close friends and corresponded through letters. When he returned to the city,the pair quickly fell in love.
Just six months later, Streep and Gummer married at her parents' Connecticut home in September 1978.
He and Streep have four children
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“They got their legsfrom their dad, thank God,” Streep said in 2006. “[They got] my sense of humor and a love of a bargain.”
Jokes aside, Streep and Gummertake parenting seriously. “Our marriage and our children and their well-being inform all the decisions we make,” Streep said in 2016.
He and Streep raised creative kids
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In one way or another, all of Streep and Gummer’s children have followed creative paths, though none have gone into the visual arts. “My poor dad,” Mamie said in 2007. “My youngest sister does have an eye for aesthetics and a skilled hand. She is very interested in fashion and design.”
Mamie, Grace and Louisa are actors and models, even appearing in campaigns together, while Henry is a musician. In fact, some of his songs were featured on the soundtracks of Streep’s films, includingJulie & JuliaandRicki and the Flash.
Streep and daughter Mamie have also costarred alongside each other. When Mamie was a toddler, she appeared as the daughter of Streep’s character inHeartburn. As an adult, Mamie and Streep shared the screen in the filmsRicki and the FlashandEvening.
Grace has starred alongside her famous mom as well, playing a younger version of Streep’s character inThe House of the Spirits. The couple’s youngest child, Louisa, currently stars in HBO’s period dramaThe Gilded Age.
He and Streep viewed marriage as a partnership
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Both Streep and Gummer maintained successful careers throughout their marriage and while raising four children. Their secret was “goodwill and willingness to bend — and to shut up every once in a while,” StreeptoldVoguein 2002.
“There’s no road map on how to raise a family: It’s always an enormous negotiation,” she added. “But I have a holistic need to work and to have huge ties of love in my life. I can’t imagine eschewing one for the other.”
Streep elaborated on that partnership in 2019, adding that Gummer was the “good cop” to her “bad cop.” She told theSydney Morning Herald, “Teamwork is everything. My husband Don was … very involved. He was a little more relaxed when it comes to raising kids. I was more of a tiger mom.”
Streep added that she was grateful to have a partner who was “always happy to look after the children” so that she would feel “not as guilty” traveling for work.
He and Streep are separated
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While they haven’t legally divorced, Streep and Gummer decided to end their marriage years ago.
“Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have beenseparated for more than 6 years, and while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart,” a representative for Streep told PEOPLE in October 2023.
He appeared on red carpets with Streep
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Over the years, Gummer attended countless red carpet events with his award-winning wife — Streep has broken her own record for themost Academy AwardandGolden Globe Award nominations. The coupleattended the Academy Awardsdozens of times, starting as early as 1980.
source: people.com
