In the early months of 1978, Meryl Streep made her first introduction to Don Gummer, who would later become her husband of forty years. However, the conditions under which they initially came into contact with one another were less than optimal.

Streep had been at the bedside of her lover of two years, the actor John Cazale, who had been ailing for some time previous to his dying during this time period. Cazale had been ill for some time before he passed away during this time period.

During her time spent auditioning for Shakespeare in the Park, Meryl Streep met John Cazale for the first time. In addition to this, both of them were given roles in the play “Measure for Measure” that put them in direct competition with one another.

Offstage, they started dating practically as soon as they met, and it didn’t take Meryl Streep very long to move into the Tribeca apartment of the person she was seeing before she moved in there permanently. Michael Schulman, who was working on a biography of Cazale, asked her about the actor and she said that he was one of a kind, telling him, “He wasn’t like anybody I’d ever met.”

Things took a turn for the worst in May of 1977 when the couple found out that Cazale was battling lung cancer that had metastasized throughout his body. This was the beginning of the end for the pair. Streep went to great lengths to ensure that she would be able to meet the requirements of her significant other by making every attempt possible.

On March 12, 1978, Cazale passed away unexpectedly in the Memorial Sloan Kettering hospital in New York City. He had been a patient there since the previous year. Streep was 29 years old when he was committed to the institution, and he had not moved out of the apartment in which he had been residing since before he was admitted to the medical facility.

It was disclosed by Schulman that Meryl Streep did not want to acknowledge that the person she loved most in the world was dying during the couple’s last minutes together before Cazale exhaled his last breath. This information was given by Schulman.

She sobbed while hammering on his chest, and for a fraction of a second, he “opened his eyes” and reassured her that everything was going to be well, as described by Schulman in “Her Again – Becoming Meryl Streep.”

According to Joe Papp, the director of Shakespeare in the Park, and Schulman, who revealed this knowledge, Streep and the star of “The Godfather” had a deep relationship. This information was passed along by Schulman. On location, this synergy could be seen and felt at the same time.

When Cazale’s health started to worsen, his fiancée did not leave his side for the following months and accompanied him to each and every appointment they had together.

One year after Cazale’s passing, the actress from the musical “Mamma Mia!” broke her silence on the subject of his death.

She added that the terrible occurrence had changed her perspective on a few different parts of life and that it had stuck with her. She said that the event had stayed with her. Shortly after the passing of her companion, Meryl Streep traveled to Canada to see a close friend.

She learned upon her return to New York that she was obligated to evacuate the flat that she and her boyfriend had occupied before to her arrival in the city. Her brother assisted her with packing, and he brought a friend named Don Gummer with him. Gummer was a sculptor who lived in the area where Meryl Streep did and had encountered her on occasion.

Gummer extended an invitation to Streep to stay in his loft in SoHo while he was out of the country on his travels. Gummer was planning to be absent from the nation. During that time period, the two individuals spoke with one another via the medium of writing, and after that point, their connection got even stronger.

After Gummer returned from his vacation, Streep continued to reside in the flat he had previously occupied. The wedding took place on September 30, 1978, exactly one year and six months after the pair first became engaged.

The event was held in the backyard of the house where Meryl Streep spent her youth on Mason’s Island, Connecticut, in the United States of America. On the other hand, her mother’s response to the rapid development of the new bond was not quite nice.

Despite this, Meryl Streep and Mamie Gummer decided to remain married and have a family together. The couple finally became parents to four children: three daughters and a son. Henry, the couple’s firstborn and eldest kid, was born in November 1979, and he pursued a career in the entertainment business much as his mother had done. Henry is the couple’s firstborn and the oldest child.

When Meryl Streep was asked about her experiences as a mother, she responded that her career as an actress allowed her to spend more time with her children, which is something that she would not have been able to do if she had worked at a desk job. If she had worked at a desk job, she would have been unable to spend as much time with them.

She pointed out that the decisions she made about her career were not in any way influenced by the amount of time she would be able to spend with her family, but rather by the fact that she was able to find a way to strike a balance between the two priorities in her life.

She was able to maintain a regular and private life in spite of the fact that she was a well-known figure in the world.

She also engaged in events at her children’s school and went to lunch with other moms. Her children’s teachers were impressed. Streep described that time in her life as “one of the happiest eras” throughout her whole live when she spoke about it.

Streep said that she was “always thrilled to care for the children” because her husband was “always pleased to look after the children.” This helped Streep to feel less “guilty” about being gone from her family as a result of the fact that she was always working.

The winner of the Golden Globe Award states that she has absolutely no regrets about elevating her career to such a lofty position, and she is certain that she made well-informed decisions with regard to both her professional life and her personal relationships with her family.

After being awarded the Academy Award for Best Leading Actress in a Role for her portrayal in “The Iron Lady” in 2012, the actress became emotional as she praised her loyal husband during her acceptance speech. Her eyes welled up with tears as she spoke.

“Before we get started, I’d want to express my appreciation to Don. During the course of her speech, Meryl Streep conveyed to the audience the following message: “I want him to know that what I treasure most in our lives is what you’ve given me.”