Meryl Streep and Husband Don Gummer Have Been Separated for 6 Years

Meryl Streep and Don Gummer celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary on Sept. 30

Meryl Streep and husband Don Gummer have separated after 45 years of marriage.

On Saturday, PEOPLE confirmed that the three-time Oscar winner, 74, and Gummer, 76, quietly ended the romantic nature of their relationship six years ago.

“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 said in a statement to PEOPLE.

Page Six was the first to report the news.

Related: Meryl Streep and Don Gummer: Look Back at Their Relationship Through the Years

Although the pair has not been seen publicly together since the 2018 Oscars, the Only Murders in the Building actress was seen wearing her wedding band as recently as Friday at the 2023 Princesa de Asturias Awards in Spain.

On Sept. 30, she and Gummer celebrated their 45th wedding anniversary.

Gummer, a sculptor from Louisville, Kentucky, met through Streep's brother in 1978. At the time, she was mourning the death of her boyfriend, fellow actor John Cazale, who died of lung cancer.

Once Streep met Gummer, the two had an instant connection. They married just six months later at her parents’ home.

Throughout the years, neither Streep nor Gummer have said much about their love life, but they have been photographed side-by-side on occasion.

Related: Celebrities Whose Significant Others We Rarely See

Although Streep began making a name for herself on the big screen, Gummer saw success within the world of art.

As a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, he later received an MFA from Yale University, and his work has been featured in exhibitions around the world since the early 1970s.

During a 2002 Vogue interview, Streep gave a rare glimpse into her relationship with Gummer.

According to The Devil Wears Prada star, the secret to their longevity was "goodwill and willingness to bend — and to shut up every once in a while.”

"There's no road map on how to raise a family: It's always an enormous negotiation," she continued.

"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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Streep and Gummer share four children together: son Henry and daughters Mamie, Grace, and Louisa.

In 1998, Streep told The Washington Post that the role of motherhood was her most challenging one yet!

"Mothering. Definitely. Acting — that's praise, money, fulfillment. Mothering — they don't even say, 'Thank you.' They don't even clear the table unless you say, 'Excuuuse me.' Real life, there's no comparison to acting. I can't really call acting work, since it's secretly so fun. Even the difficult things; it's satisfying to do the difficult things well."

She added, "Acting isn't like real life. Life is about not being sure: Is this the right school for this kid? All those uncertainties."

Though Streep’s private life rarely plays out in front of the cameras, Gummer was the first person she thanked when she received the Best Actress Oscar for her role in The Iron Lady 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, and I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you've given me," she said.

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