Actress Meryl Streep photographed in August 1976. (Photo by Jack Mitchell/Getty Images)

Meryl Streep is an actress who keeps her personal life quite private. The actress began making a name for herself in Hollywood in the 1970s. And back then, she was devoted to someone she met in the theater. She met John Cazale when she was in her twenties.

She was only 27 when she began living with 41-year-old Cazale. He was quite legendary at the time and had famous contemporaries such as Al Pacino who had nothing but positive things to say about Cazale.

Streep met Cazale when the two of them were cast in Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and from accounts of the meeting it was love at first sight.

While the actress rarely comments on her personal life, about Cazale she said in a comment that he “wasn’t like anybody I’d ever met.”

The couple soon moved in together into Cazale’s loft in Tribeca. They spent a few years happily together as they both worked in the entertainment industry and carved out a career for themselves.

But everything came to a stop in May 1977 when Cazale had to see a doctor in an emergency as he had gotten too sick to perform. Days later, he was given the fatal diagnosis of lung cancer. The Cancer had already spread to other parts of his body and the prognosis did not look positive.

Al Pacino was one of the few people trusted with the information about just how sick Cazale was. He even took him to a few of his appointments. In March 1978, Cazale was hospitalized and died soon after. Streep remained by his side throughout the entire time.

When Streep relayed the information to Cazale’s brother he told her to vacate his brother’s apartment right away. With no place to go, Streep contacted her brother Harry for help. He put her in touch with his friend Don Gummer, who was in Pakistan at the time. Gummer sublet Streep his apartment and the two began writing letters to one another. Soon, they fell in love and decided to be together.

Meryl Streep has been married to Don Gummer since 1978. The pair have had a successful marriage of over 44 years; a rarity in Hollywood. Gummer who is a sculptor by profession is always happy to have the spotlight focus on his impressive wife.

The actress has four children with Gummer. Her eldest is her son Henry Wolfe Gummer born in 1979. He is an actor and musician. He is married to Tamryn Gummer and they have two children together.

Streep’s second child and oldest daughter is Mamie Gummer. She was born in 1983. She was only a toddler when she got screen time in her mother’s 1986 movie Heartburn. Later on, she also made a cameo in her mother’s famous movie The Devil Wears Prada.

Following in her mother’s footsteps, she is also an actress now. She has appeared on shows such as The Good Wife, Emily Owens, M.D., and Elementary among others. She also looks exactly like her mother.

Streep’s third child is daughter Grace Jane Gummer who was born in 1986. She is also an actress much like her famed mother and older sister. She has also worked in Broadway and even earned a Theatre World Award for her Broadway debut.