It’s been a long and winding season of splits, which isn’t necessarily something to cheer on, but it does support my long-held hypothesis that sometimes, divorce is the best thing for all involved. Still, I won’t lie: When I heard that Meryl Streep herself had gone the Will-and-Jada route with her longtime husband Don Gummer, separating (out of the public eye) six years ago, I was genuinely—if parasocially—bummed. After all, I love Streep as deeply as the next person who rewatches The Bridges of Madison County after every breakup, and Don is hot!
Once I actually got to thinking about the Streep-Gummer split, though, I found myself feeling weirdly...inspired? In a TMZ-saturated, Instagram-crazed era in which we’ve all become way too used to knowing the minutiae of even mildly famous peoples’ lives, there’s something elegant and tasteful about Streep and her ex managing to keep their business off of Page Six until they were actually ready to share it.
“Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated 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 over the weekend. While I am belatedly sad for the couple’s four children (three of whom are actresses whose careers I am legit rooting for, despite their nepo-baby status), I also know from personal experience that going from “child of parents who should probably break up” to “child of parents who are amicably apart” is an objective glow-up.
I don’t want to imply that the end of her marriage—no matter how long ago it was—is good news for Streep’s rarely referenced personal life, but from reading the tea leaves of her rep’s statement, it’s nice to imagine that she and Gummer are at peace with each other and that she’s been enjoying her Cool Single Lady Era, watching all the shows she loves but Gummer didn’t; making herself endless cups of herbal tea and leaving them all over the house (famously something husbands do not love); and maybe even…dating? I mean, she was just honored with an arts award courtesy of the Spanish royal family! Pretty good place to take a third Raya date, no?
