Meryl Streep On The Biggest Surprise Of Her Career

Meryl Streep is one of the most revered actresses of all time, and yet, the 66-year-old revealed she wasn't always sure her career would enjoy such longevity.

The actress made the comments while speaking about diversity in Hollywood at a panel at the Berlin Film Festival, which kicked off last week. 

"I always felt that my career was over starting at 38 years of age," Streep said. "Every year after that, I’d always say, I’d better take this because, you know … in those days I had no reason to imagine that I would have a career past 40."

That would have been in the late '80s. Streep's career, however, has only gone from strength to strength since then, with nearly a dozen Oscar nominations since 1990, and a win for her portrayal as the late British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in "The Iron Lady."

"You could work up to 40 and then you’d start playing hags and witches. It’s one of the reasons I didn’t play a witch until ‘Into the Woods’ -- and I had been offered many. It was that trough that women fell into," Streep said, adding she's ditched her "magazine cover vanity" in favor of a diverse career. 

Streep is no stranger to the struggles of older female actresses and has been vocal in calling out the industry on the problem. She even helped fund a screenwriting lab to empower female screenwriters over 40, last year. 

And at the Berlin Film Festival, she emphasized the need for older men to take an interest in films about "their wives and mothers" to help combat ageism.

Countless older actresses have echoed Streep's sentiments about aging in Hollywood. Catherine Zeta-Jones, 46, recently said it's up to Hollywood's "big bosses" to tell the stories of older women, and not just focus on what they think will be lucrative. 

h/t Variety

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