Meryl Streep and Don Gummer Are on ‘Friendly Terms’ After Separation: ‘They Have History’

Meryl Streep and Don Gummer are on “friendly terms” after announcing they quietly separated six years ago, an insider exclusively tells Closer.

“They have a lot of history together,” the source adds. “They have children and grandkids; they wouldn’t have it any other way.”

The Oscar-winning actress and the sculptor decided to keep their split a secret because they have always been a “low-key couple.”

“They really didn’t think it was a big deal to keep it to themselves,” the insider continues. “They came out about it now because the time just felt right.”

There is “no shame surrounding either of them” for going their separate ways after more than four decades of marriage. “She and Don have lots of married friends with similar experiences,” the insider explains of their dynamic.

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Meryl, 74, and Don, 76, share four children, Henry Wolfe, Mamie Gummer, Grace Gummer and Louisa Jacobson, and are also grandparents to several grandchildren. They first shockingly announced their separation in a statement on October 20.

“Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than six years, and while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart,” a spokesperson for the film icon told Page Six at the time.

Meryl and Don were last spotted out together on the red carpet at the 90th Annual Academy Awards in 2018. The Julie & Julia actress continues to wear her wedding ring “out of habit” despite their split, the source says.

The former couple got married in 1978 after they were introduced through one of her brothers. Over the years, Meryl kept details about her love life largely under wraps, but she did make a rare comment about her marriage and family in 2002.

“There’s no road map on how to raise a family; It’s always an enormous negotiation,” the Big Little Lies alum told Vogue at the time. “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.”

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Meryl also gave her spouse a shout-out during her acceptance speech at the Oscars in 2012.

“First, I’m going to thank Don, because when you thank your husband at the end of the speech, they play him out with the music,” she said after earning the Best Actress award for her captivating role in The Iron Lady. “And I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you’ve given me.”

As for whether or not Meryl is looking to move on and enter the dating scene again, the insider does not think it’s her “priority at the moment.”