Meryl Streep Viral Resurfaced Clip: Internet Reacts

by Stephanie SoteriouBuzzFeedBuzzFeed StaffI’m an innately nosey and chronically online celebrity and pop culture journalist, with my specialist areas including deep-diving lyrics and calling out Terrible Men™.

It’s no exaggeration to say that Meryl Streep, who is now 76 years old, is one of the most respected and renowned actors in the world, with the star beloved across the globe for her performances in movies like Sophie’s Choice, The Devil Wears Prada, and Florence Foster Jenkins.

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She first started acting professionally in 1975, when she was 25 years old, and is now the proud owner of no less than three Academy Awards, winning her first in 1980 for her lead role in Kramer vs. Kramer, and she was most recently nominated in 2018 for The Post.

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And on Monday, fans were left emotional when a 47-year-old interview clip of Meryl was shared on X. The interview was with Gene Shalit, who asked the then-30-year-old star about her plans for the future.

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At this point in her career, Meryl was yet to win her first Oscar, but she had already been nominated for her performance in the 1978 film The Deer Hunter.

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Poignantly, Meryl had also just recently lost her partner John Cazale, who she’d met in 1976. John and Meryl were living together when he was diagnosed with lung cancer in 1977, and she cared for him until he died in March 1978, at age 42.

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She married sculptor Don Gummer six months after John’s death.

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Speaking to Gene about her hopes for the future, Meryl says in the resurfaced clip: “I’m gonna be a mother, I hope, god willing everything goes OK. And I’m going to keep working, I hope, with people that I like and whose work I respect.”

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“And if I can’t get work that way, then to feed the mean little kid, maybe I’ll do some commercials or something,” Meryl went on, before admitting: “I don’t have a life plan, if that’s what you mean.”

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This clip has gone viral on X simply because people are in awe of how completely unaware Meryl is that she is on the cusp of more than she could ever imagine — both in her professional and personal life — in the footage.

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Meryl and Don welcomed their first child together, Henry, in November 1979 — just months after this interview took place. They went on to welcome three more children together, daughters Mary (also known as "Mamie"), Grace, and Louisa.

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In addition, Meryl’s career reached unfathomable levels of success. Sharing the video to X, the OP wrote: “meryl streep in 1979 talking about her hopes and dreams… baby girl you did it all 😭♥️” And in just two days, this tweet has been seen more than four million times — with other users admitting that they find it pretty inspiring.

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“Her being 30 here…..why is life worth living again,” an incredibly viral tweet with over 136k likes reads. Somebody else added: “this kinda inspired me to get back up.”

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Another noted: “this is so…watching this has me incredibly emotional. i’m around the same age she was during this interview and to have the privilege of hindsight to know what unfolded for her beyond this is kind of bewildering. we literally all are (or were) just people absolutely winging it.”

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While one more pointed out: “I hate that people try to convince us that 30 is old and that you should have your life figured out by that age. She was 30 when she did this interview, and look at the journey she had even after her 30s, she became one of the greatest actresses of all time.”

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Meryl is currently promoting the highly anticipated sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, and is also confirmed to be playing Joni Mitchell in an upcoming biopic.

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In addition, her daughter, Grace Gummer, is following in her mom's footsteps with a thriving acting career after her recent performance in Love Story was branded “Emmy worthy.”

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As always, let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

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