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‘I played dead’: Meryl Streep recalls horrific assault

Nov 18, 2017

Meryl speaks about the time she was abused. Source: Getty

She’s one of the most loved actresses in Hollywood but Meryl Streep has opened up about being the victim of two violent attacks.

The star, who is arguably one of the strongest women in the business, suggested that her instincts are to thank for her still being alive today.

The 68-year-old revealed the horrific incidents at a press the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 27th annual International Press Freedom Awards in New York earlier this week.

“The two times in my life when I was threatened and dealt with real, physical violence, I learned something about life that I wouldn’t have known otherwise,” Fox News reports the Mama Mia actress saying.

“And I was lucky because my instincts served me well.”

One of the attacks was so brutal that the Sophie’s Choice star ended up playing dead to fend her attacker off, saying she “played dead and waited for the blows to stop”.

In another example, the screen legend explained how she saw another person getting attacked and that she “went completely nuts” to get him to stop.

During that assault, Streep said pop star Cher was present, calling it a “miracle” that the man ran away.

As is the case with most victims of assault and abuse, the star of The Hours said the events changed her life forever: “I was changed by these events on a cellular level.

“Because women do know something particular about coming to the danger place. We come to it disadvantaged through the many millennia preceding our present moment and because of our vulnerability we anticipate danger, we expect it.”