Meryl Streep may be the most acclaimed actress of her generation, but she can also boast another achievement that many of her acting peers cannot – a long and happy marriage. Meryl (60) has just celebrated her 30th wedding anniversary with husband Don Gummer (62) and has revealed the secret behind their union – communication.
“You have to talk about all the issues that arise, even the smallest things. You have to listen to your partner’s problems, suggestions and advice, and accept that you’re not always right. Conversation is the key to a successful marriage,” she says.

The couple met in 1978, through Meryl’s brother Harry, after her fiance John Cazale died of cancer just a few months earlier. They had a whirlwind courtship and within six months of the wedding, Meryl was pregnant with their first child Henry (now 29). They also have three daughters, oamie (26), Grace (23) and Louisa (17).
Despite their strong union, the couple still experience the ups and downs that most relationships endure. ”We agree on the big things, like the kids, sex and money, which I’m told is what most couples fight about. I always fi nd that you scrap over the little things – whose turn it is to have the car serviced and silly things like that,” says Meryl, who stars as Julia Child in her latest movie Julie & Julia.
Meryl says Julia helped to reintroduce wholesome meals to the US in the 1960s. ”It’s easy to forget what home cooking in America was like before Julia came along. I remember when I was 10, going to a friend’s house up the street. She and her mother were peeling potatoes and I said, ‘What are you doing?’ ”They said they were making mashed potatoes. I said, ‘But mashed potatoes come in a box.’ I had never seen a real potato. My mother’s motto was, ‘If it’s not done in 20 minutes, it’s not dinner.’”

For Meryl, who has recieved 15 oscar nods and won twice, film offers keep rolling in and there’s no talk of retiring anytime soon. ”I used to think I wouldn’t get any more work after 40. I was afraid that roles would only be offered to younger actresses. But now I’m much more relaxed. ”By the way, I do not consider myself to be a very attractive woman – but I also don’t care!” she laughs.
 
Fast Marriage Facts - Don and Meryl
Met: 2003.
Married: July 4, 2004.
First Marriage: No.
Did You Know?
They believe the secret to a long lasting marriage is goodwill, a willingness to bend, and to shut up now and then.

Born:
Meryl Streep aka Mary Louise Streep: June 22, 1949 in Summit, New Jersey.
Don Gummer: December 12, 1946 in Louisville, Kentucky.
 

How Don and Meryl Met:
Meryl met Don through her brother, Harry. Harry and Don had been longtime friends.
 

Wedding Date and Info:

Meryl and Don had a quiet wedding on September 15, 1978 at the home of her parents on Mason's Island, Connecticut.
They later celebrated their marriage with friends in May, 1979 at a cocktail party. Meryl wears a simple, slim wedding band.

Children:
Meryl and Don have four children.
 

• Henry (Hank, Harry) W. Gummer: Born in 1979. Working as an actor, filmmaker, and in a rock band, Bravo Silva.
• Mary (Mamie) Willa Gummer: Born in 1983. Working as an actress.
• Grace Jane Gummer: Born in 1986. Studying art and religion at Vassar College.
• Louisa Jacobson Gummer: Born in 1991.
•  

Occupations:
Meryl: Actress and producer.
Don: Sculptor.

Previous Relationships:
Meryl was engaged to John Cazale, an actor. John was born on August 12, 1935 in Boston, Massachusetts. Meryl and John met in New York in 1976 while working together on a Central Park production of Measure for Measure. They became engaged while working together on the film The Deer Hunter. They learned in the summer of 1977 that John had bone cancer. He died on March 12, 1978 in New York, New York.
"Meryl took a leave from acting to care for Cazale full time. During his last few weeks she moved into the hospital; every day she read him the sports pages, comically imitating the overheated delivery of TV announcers and trying to nourish his spirits until the end."

Residences:
Although at different times in their marriage, Meryl and Don had homes in New York and California, their primary residence throughout their marriage has been in Connecticut.

Quotes About Meryl and Don's Marriage:
Meryl at the 2012 Academy Awards: "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."
Meryl about the secret to a long-lived marriage: "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. 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." 
Source: MerylStreepOnline.net
Meryl about finding the right mate: "My husband understands the compulsion to create things. With somebody who had a regular job, I think it might have been harder to translate those creative impulses and the need to satisfy them ... I think you have to have somebody as a partner who shares what you value in life."
Meryl about balance in marriage: "I'm not sure we think about it as compromising as much as it is trying to keep a certain balance in the relationship. We're lucky to have found each other, and we both recognize that. Our marriage and our four children and their future well-being inform all the decisions we make. Of course, we're fortunate that our lives are flexible enough to accommodate everybody's changing needs."
Meryl about her husband Don: "I don't know what I'd do without my husband. I'd be dead, emotionally at least, if I hadn't met him. He's the greatest."
Meryl about listening: "Listening is everything. Listening is the whole deal. That's what I think. And I mean that in terms of before you work, after you work, in between work, with your children, with your husband, with your friends, with your mother, with your father. It's everything. And it's where you learn everything."
Meryl about what is important, learned after John's death: "I learned what really is important. I found what is true and what’s just stupid and meaningless and not worth pursuing.”