At 76, the Hollywood actor is not slowing down – and neither is her love life!

As the frosty and fearsome Miranda Priestly, Meryl Streep was at her formidable best in The Devil Wears Prada. Her 2006 portrayal of the disdainful fashion magazine editor, whose withering gaze leaves her underlings quivering in her wake, managed to win Meryl a whole new cohort of fans who hadn’t even been born when she first rocketed to fame. Now 19 years later, the A-lister is doing it all over again – sliding into Miranda’s oh-so chic shoes, looking every bit as indifferent and in vogue as she did the first time around. Filming for The Devil Wears Prada 2 has been underway in New York since June – with a release date slated for May 1 next year – and hardly a day goes by when fans haven’t been treated to a sneak peek of her in full Miranda regalia. From a pair of squaretoed snakeskin heels to a voluminous crimson evening gown, snapshots of the 76-year-old have been pored over by devotees eager to get a first glimpse of the star in action.

For Meryl, it’s not an intrusion – it’s pure joy. Despite having a record 21 Oscar nominations to her name and three wins, she’s made no secret of her delight in recent years that she’s not only still getting work, but great offers. “I remember as I was hovering around 40, I thought each movie would be my last,” she shares. “Really. And all the evidence of other 40 -yearold women at that time would lead you to believe it was over.” Thanks to a gradual change of culture in Hollywood – with more women in executive positions – far from being over, her career has continued to snowball. The star’s unexpected career longevity isn’t the only curveball thrown Meryl’s way of late. Back in 2017, she privately separated from her longtime husband, sculptor Don Gummer, 78. The pair, who share four children – son Henry, 45, and daughters, Mamie, 42 , Grace, 39, and Louisa, 34 – didn’t officially announce their separation until October 2023 and have yet to divorce, but it appears Meryl’s moving on.

In a revelation that surprised many, the Hollywood icon – revered for her angstridden dramas like Sophie’s Choice and Kramer vs Kramer – came out as a devoted fan of the Disney+ T V show Only Murders in the Building, a quirky comedy-drama starring Steve Martin, Selena Gomez and her old pal Martin Short. Recalling how much she’d enjoyed working with Steve in the 2009 movie It ’s ‘As I was hovering around 40, I thought each movie would be my last’ Complicated, she called him to say she’d love to be in the show. It had, after all, featured cameos by a string of other high-profile stars, including Sting, Tina Fey, Amy Schumer and Shirley MacLaine. Instead of a cameo, she was offered the role of Martin’s love interest in season three and is now a regular cast member, with season five having been released this month.

For the past 18 months, speculation’s been rising that the pair’s “showmance” has turned into a reallife romance. After being spotted in February last year having dinner together with friends, and a month later catching a Broadway show together, they then walked the red carpet hand in hand in August 2024 at the Los Angeles premiere of season four of Only Murders. A month later, they sat together at the Emmys and in March this year, they arrived together for a taping of Saturday Night Live. One source in the know says the duo have been secretly dating “for well over a year”. Says an insider, “Meryl couldn’t help but fall for Martin. He’s a gentleman. He keeps her laughing and is an all-round positive person. She loves being around him.” Aside from their longstanding friendship and shared work history, the source says the pair has something else in common that bonds them. Meryl lost her first love, actor John Cazale, to lung cancer in 1978. Likewise, dad of three Martin, 75, lost his wife of 30 years, actor Nancy Dolman, to ovarian cancer in 2010. “Meryl and Martin have bonded over the loss of their exes,” says the insider. “Their friends and family, including their kids, absolutely approve of their relationship and think they’re adorable together.” The twosome, however, has no plans to wed.

“Meryl is still legally married to Don, but even if she were divorced, that’s just not something that she or Martin are interested in. They’re happy dating as boyfriend and girlfriend.” Martin, however, couldn’t help but sing Meryl’s praises when asked recently about working with her on Only Murders. “Well, she’s the greatest actress maybe ever,” he enthuses. “I remember the first day we were shooting season three. I was going to work and I thought, ‘Gee, I’m a little bit nervous today. I haven’t felt that for a while.’ Because I was working with Meryl Streep.” And on the subject of the pair’s onscreen romance, which fans couldn’t help but notice was brimming with chemistry, he says, “It’s empowering to people who are in their seventies to not let an age number say, ‘Oh, then therefore it can’t be a romance because they’re not 25.’” For her part, Meryl’s said little of her friendship with Martin. She has always kept her private life off limits, including her children – particularly when they were young.

She reflects about her late friend Robert Redford, “He taught me that when they were babies. He said, ‘They’re not your props.’ I really admired the way he protected his family. It’s something I consciously emulated.” For many years, the family hunkered down in a sprawling country estate in upstate New York, far away from the pressures of Hollywood and Manhattan. Henry is the only one of her brood not to follow in her footsteps. Although he’s dabbled in acting, he’s focused on his career as a musician. Mamie, however, has made her mark in shows like The Good Wife and True Detective, while Grace has appeared in everything from The Newsroom, American Horror Story to Mr Robot. Baby of the family Louisa was at first studying psychology and modelling ‘I can’t remember the last time I worried about being appealing’ until she felt the pull to attend acting school at Yale. One of her first auditions after graduating was for the pivotal role of Marian Brook in the hit Neon period drama The Gilded Age – a part she won.

But after three seasons and another in production, fans could be forgiven for not recognising her as belonging to the Streep/Gummer clan. She uses her middle name Jacobson as her surname because there’s already an actor called Louisa Gummer registered with the Screen Actors Guild. As for Meryl, there’s no chance the Streep name will be retired from service any time soon. Insiders say she’s currently in talks to voice Aslan in Barbie director Greta Gerwig’s new Narnia film, believed to be based on the C.S. Lewis book The Magician’s Nephew. Word has it she’s also in negotiations to star in Cameron Crowe’s upcoming Joni Mitchell biopic, in which The Queen’s Gambit star Anya Taylor-Joy, 29, is being considered for the role of young Joni, while Meryl would play the singersongwriter in her later years. Not only does she no longer worry about her work drying up, but with age has come the liberation of not obsessing over her looks.

Back in 1976, then in her mid-twenties, she auditioned for the female lead in Dino De Laurentiis’ remake of King Kong, only for the director to rant in Italian to his son, “Why did you send me this pig? This woman is so ugly! Blech.” The director was shocked when she replied in fluent Italian, “I’m very sorry that I disappoint you.” Meryl says, “So much of a young girl’s life – my life – was taken up with worrying if I was attractive enough or appealing enough. But after a while, I got tired of worrying about it.” Now she says, “I can’t remember the last time I really worried about being appealing.” Nor does she give a hoot about ageing.