Meryl Streep is genetically related to “Devil Wears Prada” inspiration Anna Wintour: 'Explains everything' (exclusive)
Meryl Streep is genetically related to “Devil Wears Prada” inspiration Anna Wintour: 'Explains everything' (exclusive)
Joey NolfiThu, April 2, 2026 at 4:51 PM UTC
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Meryl Streep in 'The Devil Wears Prada'; Anna WintourCredit: Everett; Getty
Whether girded or not, Meryl Streep's loins are actually genetically related to her Devil Wears Prada character's real-life inspiration, former Vogue head and fashion icon Anna Wintour — and Streep exclusively tells Entertainment Weekly she's ecstatic about the findings.
As the three-time Oscar-winning legend reprises her role as ruthless fashion editor Miranda Priestly opposite Anne Hathaway in the upcoming sequel The Devil Wears Prada 2, a new Ancestry.com study has found that Streep is distantly biologically related to Wintour — the industry staple whose personality and professional endeavors served as the basis for writer (and ex-Vogue employee) Lauren Weisberger's Devil Wears Prada novel on which the first film was based.
“Well THAT explains EVERYTHING," Streep tells EW in a written statement on the news. "As our ancestors would say, I am chuffed!"
Meryl Streep in 'The Devil Wears Prada 2'Credit: 20th Century Studios
In a press release, Ancestry says that it found the connection through "using its billions of historical records and public family trees," and connects Streep to Wintour as sixth cousins through relatives named Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Kinsey.
Both Streep and Wintour were also born in 1949, just five months apart, with Streep born on June 22, and Wintour on Nov. 3.
Streep was spotted filming The Devil Wears Prada 2 in Italy late last year, with cameras also capturing the cast meeting with Wintour at a fashion show. EW has since exclusively confirmed that Wintour does not appear in the highly anticipated sequel.
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Though she won't appear in the sequel, Wintour — who recently announced that she's stepping down from her longtime role as editor-in-chief of Vogue — was vital in laying the foundation for The Devil Wears Prada as a pop culture phenomenon upon the film's successful launch in 2006.
Weisberger worked under Wintour at the fashion bible and used the editor as her inspiration for the 2003 novel on which the film was adapted. In EW's 15th anniversary oral history cast reunion in 2021, the cast and crew revealed to us that the production reportedly meticulously recreated Wintour's office on set to serve as Priestly's office at the fictional Runway magazine, where a budding journalist (Hathaway) gets her start.
"Anna came to the first screening in New York. She sat right in front of me and David with her daughter and wore Prada, which shows she has a great sense of humor!" screenplay writer Aline Brosh McKenna previously told EW during the conversation.
Director David Frankel (who returned to helm the upcoming sequel) added, "I remember her daughter nudging her through the screening, like, 'They got that right!' … A couple years later, I was at a tennis tournament in Miami … seated behind her, and when it was over, I made the effort to introduce myself — 'I'm David Frankel, the director of The Devil Wears Prada' — and [she took her] hand out of [my handshake]!"
Supermodel Gisele Bündchen, who also had a supporting role as a Runway stafer, recounted to EW what she felt the movie got right in terms of its portrayal of the fashion industry, explaining that while Wintour was "a more reserved person" in her estimation, "she was always very nice."
The Devil Wears Prada 2 is in theaters on May 1.
on Entertainment Weekly
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
