Meryl Streep’s 45-Year Marriage with Spouse Might Never Have Happened If Her Boyfriend Hadn’t Died by Her Side

• Meryl Streep dated an actor who tragically died after she put her career on hold to take of him until his last days.
• The actress was devastated by her partner's untimely death and said she "tried."
• However, months later, she married a man whom she met through her brother and welcomed four children with him. They have been married for over four decades, but it turns out they have also been leading separate lives in recent years.

Meryl Streep was dating another famous star before she met her now-estranged husband. However, the married couple's romance began shortly after a tragedy.

Meryl's spokesperson recently confirmed that she and her husband of 45 years, Don Gummer, have been leading separate lives for several years now.

The statement read, "Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than 6 years." According to the spokesperson, the much-admired Hollywood couple who have "chosen lives apart" will forever care for each other.

The news comes several years after Meryl expressed gratitude to Don during her acceptance speech at the 84th Oscar Awards in February 2012. Emotional at the time, the veteran actress said:

"I want him to know that everything I value most in our lives, you've given me."

Meryl Met Don after Her Famous Boyfriend Tragically Died

Before meeting Don, Meryl was dating "The Godfather" actor John Cazale, whom she crossed paths with at the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1976. She once said this about him:

"He was large-hearted, very eccentric, and I loved him."

While dating, John was diagnosed with bone cancer. He learned about the disease before they both started filming "The Deer Hunter," and as the movie progressed, his condition worsened. The film's director, Michael Cimino, once recalled, "Meryl stayed by his side every single moment."

Meanwhile, in her autobiography, "Her Again: Becoming Meryl Streep," author Michael Schulman penned that when friends came for a visit, they only saw how much Meryl endured despite the adversity she faced.

She cared for John like no other, and even though he knew that he would die, "she gave him tremendous hope," Schulman wrote in the book. The fateful day John died from cancer, he had, at first, closed his eyes, and the doctor confirmed that he was no more.

But Meryl refused to believe it; she pounded his chest while crying, and for a brief moment, John opened his eyes and told her it was okay. He closed his eyes again as he took his last breath.

The "It's Complicated" star called her brother. She told him the devastating news and burst into tears, saying, "I tried." Meryl had taken a five-month break from her career to tend to John, who died in March 1978 at age 42.

The New Jersey native openly talked about the Massachusetts native's untimely passing in a December 1979 interview, which was a year later:

"The death is still very much with me. It has forced me to confront my own mortality, and once you do that, you look at things differently."

After John died, Meryl moved out of their once-shared apartment into the SoHo loft that belonged to sculptor Don, whom she met through her brother. At the time, Don was on vacation in Pakistan, where she got injured in a motorcycle accident and returned home.

While back home, he and the Hollywood star fell in love and later walked down the aisle in New York in September 1978, only six months after John's death. The couple welcomed their first child, son Henry Wolfe, before Thanksgiving in November 1979 via cesarean.

The first-time mom had also paused her career to give birth and returned to work. Meryl and Don later welcomed daughters Mamie Gummer, Grace Gummer, and Louisa Jacobson.

The family matriarch once said she credits her now-estranged husband for supporting her with balancing her career with motherhood, proudly stating she could not have imagined being a mom while making films if it were not for him. "He's the linchpin."

Although Meryl's mother and friends were skeptical about her marrying Don shortly after losing her then-boyfriend, John, their marriage soared through the years, and the three-time Academy Award winner's acting career became even more successful with several Oscar nominations to her name.