"Explains Everything": Meryl Streep's Genetic Relation To Devil Wears Prada-Inspired Figure Revealed
By Published Apr 6, 2026, 11:21 AM EDT Jeff Dodge (he/him), a published author and graduate of Western Washington University, has been a TV news editor for many years and has had the chance to interview multiple reality show stars, including Randy Jackson, Nick Cannon, Heidi Klum, Mel B and John Cena. Fun Fact: he’s been to every single Idol Live! Tour. Summary Generate a summary of this story follow Follow followed Followed Like Like Log in Here is a fact-based summary of the story contents: Try something different: Show me the facts Explain it like I’m 5 Give me a lighthearted recap
Ahead of the release of , star Meryl Streep discovered that she's related to the real-life figure who inspired her character, Miranda Priestly.
The Devil Wears Prada was released in 2006, with the then-Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour serving as the inspiration for Miranda, the editor-in-chief of Runway, the fictional magazine in the film. The character is demanding and ruthless, with Andy Sachs (Anne Hathaway) spending the entire movie trying, and constantly failing, to live up to her high standards.
Now Streep is reacting to the news that she and Wintour are sixth cousins, telling , "THAT explains EVERYTHING. As our ancestors would say, I am chuffed!"
"Well THAT explains EVERYTHING. As our ancestors would say, I am chuffed!"
The revelation was discovered via a study from , which found that the two public figures are connected via their fifth great-grandparents, Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Kinsey, from Bucks County, Pennsylvania. The genealogy company pored through billions of historical records and publicly available family trees to find this ancestral link.
Streep and Wintour are the same age (76), with the actress's date of birth being June 22, 1949; the fashion editor was born almost five months later on November 3.
of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who worked as an assistant to Wintour. Three years after the book was published, 20th Century Studios (then known as 20th Century Fox) released the film adaptation starring Streep, Hathaway, Emily Blunt, and Stanley Tucci.
The film, which is Certified Fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with a score of 75%, went on to gross $326 million at the box office and became a pop culture phenomenon, with iconic lines like "That’s all," "You have no style or sense of fashion," and "All right, everyone! Gird your loins."
Wintour actually attended the Devil Wears Prada premiere in New York and later said she found the film to be enjoyable and funny.
Even though the novel's author based Miranda on Wintour, Streep herself didn't use the fashion editor as inspiration when filming. Instead, she recently said on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert that she based her performance on Mike Nichols and Clint Eastwood.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of the film, and to celebrate the milestone, 20th Century Studios is releasing the long-awaited and highly anticipated sequel, , which reunites Streep, Hathaway, Blunt, and Tucci.
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Other cast members include Justin Theroux, Kenneth Branagh, Tracie Thoms, Tibor Feldman, Simone Ashley, Lucy Liu, Patrick Brammall, Caleb Hearon, Helen J. Shen, Pauline Chalamet, B. J. Novak, Conrad Ricamora, Rachel Bloom, and Lady Gaga.
The with Andy landing a job at a newspaper. Now, in the David Frankel-directed sequel, she's back at Runway working for Miranda, which was teased two months ago in a trailer that broke the record for the most-viewed 20th Century Studios trailer ever, with over 200 million views on just the first day alone.
The Devil Wears Prada 2 will be released in theaters on Friday, May 1, 2026.
Cast
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Miranda Priestly -
Andy Sachs
Prequel(s) Main Genre Executive Producer(s) Michael Bederman, Aline Brosh McKenna, Karen Rosenfelt Expand Collapse
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