“The Jada effect is spreading fast”: Netizens liken Meryl Streep to Jada Pinkett Smith after 6-year separation from Don Gummer

Meryl Streep has separated from her husband Don Gummer of 45 years. On October 20, 2023, a representative told Page Six that the pair had been living separately for over six years and had chosen to have "lives apart."

Fans are likening their relationship to that of Will Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith. In exclusives with People and NBC's Today, the Red Table Talk host revealed in early October that she and her husband Will Smith had been separated for seven years.

Meryn and Jada are being linked together for their relationship reveals. (Image via Twitter/@PopCrave)

Meanwhile, Meryl and Don were last seen together while attending the 2018 Oscars ceremony. The Devil Wears Prada actress, 74, and the sculptor, 76, tied the knot in 1978, as per People.

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Meryl Streep and husband Don Gummer have been separated for more than 6 years

Meryl Streep, the iconic three-time Oscar-winning actress, and her successful sculptor husband, Don Gummer, have decided to go their separate ways after 45 years of marriage.

The news came as a shock to fans as the Only Murders in the Building actress was seen wearing the wedding band on Friday, October 20, 2023, while attending the Princesa de Asturias Awards in Spain. The pair, however, was last seen together at the 2018 Oscars ceremony, as per People.

Their representative told Page Six:

"Don Gummer and Meryl Streep have been separated for more than 6 years, and while they will always care for each other, they have chosen lives apart."

Meryl Streep and Don raised their four children at their Connecticut compound in the quaint, historic town of Salisbury, England. Their children, singer-songwriter Henry Wolfe, 43, and actresses Mamie Gummer, 40, Grace Gummer, 37, and Louisa Jacobson, 30, have all accomplished a lot in their separate fields.

Louisa played the leading role of Marian Brook in HBO's historical drama The Gilded Age.

Streep and Gummer have five grandchildren as well.

They shared a Tribeca loft together in New York City but they sold it for $15.8 million in January 2020, as per Page Six.

Don Gummer and Meryl Streep first met because of her brother Harry in 1978. She was mourning the loss of her boyfriend and fellow actor John Cazale. According to The Mirror, he had passed away due to lung cancer that year.

Meanwhile, the couple's separation of six years has been compared with Jada Pinkett Smith's tell-all with People on October 10, 2023, and the Today show released on October 13.

Jada was promoting her book Worthy, at the time, when she told the publications that she and Will Smith have been separated since 2016. The news came as a shock to fans worldwide and now with Meryl's news, fans are picking out the similarities:

Fans react to Meryl and Don's separation. (Images via Twitter/@PopCrave)

Meryl and Don reportedly had an instant connection after meeting and married at her parent's home, only six months after knowing each other in 1978. They mostly kept their marriage out of the public eye, as per Page Six.

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Meryl Streep talks about marriage with Don Gummer

Don Gummer is a successful sculptor. He was a student at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and later received an MFA from Yale University, as per People. Don's work has been featured in exhibitions around the world since the early 1970s.

In 2002, Meryl talked about the secret to their longevity in marriage in an exclusive with Vogue, saying that it was the "goodwill and willingness to bend — and to shut up every once in a while." She continued:

"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."

The pair have not given their personal statements about the news of separation yet.