From Barack Obama's charming crush confession to Cher's heroic ice cream run, Hollywood's finest share their most memorable encounters with the legendary actress. These heartwarming, hilarious, and sometimes surprising stories showcase why everyone from rappers to presidents can't help but be starstruck by this incredible talent.
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00:00And what about that Meryl Streep, for God's sake?
00:03She's so amazing, it's annoying at this point.
00:05Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the times when celebrities told incredible stories about Oscar-winning legend Meryl Streep.
00:14I learned something that day. Don't mess with Meryl.
00:19Number 10. Barack Obama.
00:22When Meryl Streep was awarded the Kennedy Center honor, President Barack Obama spoke at the reception.
00:28Witness the love of the performers and how it goes back and forth, back and forth, from the stage to the performers, back to us and the audience.
00:40His remarks drip with charm and wit, but it's pretty standard stuff.
00:44Meryl has tackled incredibly complex roles, ranging from Julia Child to most recently Margaret Thatcher.
00:51Today she's the most nominated actress in the history of the Academy Awards.
00:56She's tossed aside more than a few stereotypes along the way.
01:00After the speech, though, he starts going off the cuff.
01:03Toward the end of the reception, he talks about his personal connection to the artists being celebrated.
01:09When he gets to Streep, he mentions her role in 1981's The French Lieutenant's Woman.
01:13Soon he no longer bothered to hide the real nature of his intentions towards me.
01:19Nor could I pretend surprise my innocence was false from the moment I chose to stay.
01:25Namely, he tells of how he was one of the many who developed a crush on the actress after seeing her in that film.
01:31It's a moment of levity that practically has her doubling over with laughter.
01:35Meryl Streep, anybody who saw The French Lieutenant's Woman, had a crush on her.
01:39I assume everybody remembers that.
01:47I'm ad-libbing here a little bit.
01:49Number 9, Melissa McCarthy.
01:51Sitting down with Ellen DeGeneres, the Oscar-nominated actress of Bridesmaids talked about her awards season's go-around.
01:59McCarthy recalled meeting some of Hollywood's brightest stars at the Golden Globes.
02:03And finally, I got a little weird and I was like, I just have to, you have to stop for a minute because it's a lot visually to take in.
02:11You said that to them?
02:11I said that to them.
02:12I said, you are a lot.
02:13And they just kind of laughed.
02:14I said, no, really, it is a lot.
02:16She described her complete shock at Meryl Streep introducing herself.
02:20The fact that Streep actually felt like anyone in the room didn't know who she was is hilarious enough.
02:26But McCarthy acts out her complete journey of emotions upon meeting her longtime idol.
02:30And I turned around, she goes, hi, I'm Meryl.
02:34And I literally, like, my brain snapped in two.
02:38And then I really didn't know what to say, so I just kept going, oh my god, you're Meryl Streep.
02:44Oh my god, you're Meryl Streep.
02:47And then she said, you know, she was chatting like a normal human being.
02:51Her little girl excitement is clear, and she's clearly being self-deprecating.
02:54But then again, that would be all of us if we met Meryl Streep.
02:59I was acting.
03:01I like hook stage combat.
03:03Number 8. Ryan Gosling.
03:06This future star of La La Land scored his first Oscar nomination for 2006's Half Nelson.
03:11So it works for some people, right?
03:15It didn't work for me.
03:17The kids keep me focused.
03:21Ryan Gosling took his sister and mother as his date.
03:25Unfortunately, his mom's beehive hairstyle just made her feel out of place and self-conscious.
03:31Looking to cheer her up, Gosling asked a nearby Meryl Streep to help her feel better.
03:36She did her job admirably as usual.
03:38I leaned next to Meryl Streep, who's, you know, I've never met before.
03:43She's probably the greatest actor ever.
03:45Yeah.
03:45And I said to her, listen, only you can fix this situation, I think.
03:48Taking Gosling's cue, Streep told his mother how jealous she was of her hairstyle,
03:54which basically made her night, and understandably so.
03:57She looks over and she goes, you know, to my mom, I almost wore my hair up too and I'm so jealous.
04:03I wish I had.
04:04I'm sorry.
04:05Great.
04:05And my mother was...
04:07She lost it.
04:10And it's just proof that Meryl Streep, if you ever wanted to know, she's awesome.
04:13It's just another reminder of how awesome the actress is.
04:16Number 7, Kathy Bates.
04:18If there's anyone who knows how to deal with losing a major award, it's Meryl Streep.
04:24As of 2025, she's won three Oscars, but has been nominated for 21.
04:28How many of those 20 movies for which you were nominated for an Academy Award can you name?
04:35And if you're able to name them, I will give you this bonus Oscar.
04:39Both numbers are impressive, but it also means she's had to make that gracious,
04:45I just lost an Academy Award face 18 times over the course of her career thus far.
04:50I'm gonna have to keep this Oscar for myself, but that's okay.
04:54You probably have enough of it.
04:55Oh, damn.
04:55So, when she and Kathy Bates lost the Best Supporting Actress Oscar to Catherine Zeta-Jones
05:01in 2003, Streep was quick to offer a solution.
05:05She whizzed past Bates and told her bluntly that they were going to hit up the bar together.
05:10The two drowned their sorrows over some shots.
05:12It's been hard to get a dinner date.
05:14Yeah, right.
05:15Number 6, 50 Cent.
05:17When's the last time you were starstruck and you were like, oh, what?
05:20I was at a basketball game, a Knicks game, and I sat next to Meryl Streep.
05:26And you were like...
05:27And I was like, I'm regular.
05:30In 2014, photos of a chance meetup at a Knicks-Lakers game hit the internet.
05:35Meryl Streep and 50 Cent ended up sitting courtside together.
05:39Starstruck doesn't even begin to cover his reaction.
05:42Talking to Rachel Ray later on, the rapper and producer tells the story of sitting by
05:47the screen legend at the sporting event.
05:49And it seems like everybody got a memo because when you look at all of the pictures, like
05:53her husband's right on the other side and nobody has him in the pictures.
05:56Next to someone like Meryl Streep, he says he felt like a regular person.
06:01But he wasn't the only one who suddenly changed around the actress.
06:0450 Cent said that Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant even seemed to be completely stunned in her
06:09presence.
06:10We can't blame him.
06:11I'm here, you know, because I'm not playing.
06:13We might as well go.
06:14I'm like, yeah, yeah, let's do that.
06:15And then his voice changed because like Meryl came around the corner and he's like, hey.
06:20Feels like you're going to do it again.
06:22Like, I was like...
06:22I love how his whole posture changed, too.
06:27You acted that really well.
06:28He just shifted to a whole new person.
06:30He's like, hey.
06:31Number 5, Emily Blunt.
06:33The British actress played the put-upon assistant to Streep's iconic Miranda Priestly in The
06:38Devil Wears Prada.
06:39The parent-teacher conference is at Daltner tonight and then call my husband.
06:43Ask him to please meet me for dinner at that place I went to with Massimo.
06:46Also, tell Richard I saw all the pictures that he sent for that feature on the female paratroopers
06:50and they're all so deeply unattractive.
06:53Is it impossible to find a lovely, slender female paratrooper?
06:56Am I reaching for the stars here?
06:58According to Emily Blunt, though, her co-star was anything but Beastly.
07:03For the record, that just makes her immense talents all the more amazingly annoying.
07:08But as she tells David Letterman, when the two worked together on Into the Woods, Blunt
07:12actually saved Streep from a nasty fall.
07:15But you saved her life on the set of the film.
07:18Well, she owes me.
07:19That's why I think at some point I should play the Queen of Versailles and she could
07:24be my lowly dressmaker.
07:25Did you mention that to her?
07:27I did mention it to her.
07:29Seeing her co-star get caught in her character's cape, she acted quickly and caught her.
07:34She was quick to point out that director Rob Marshall and fellow castmate James Corden
07:38were absolutely no help.
07:40She also managed to do this, by the way, while pregnant.
07:43Meryl Streep's foot got caught in her cape and we just started to watch her slowly topple
07:48headfirst towards the concrete floor.
07:51Rob Marshall and James Corden froze, didn't move, and the pregnant woman caught her.
07:56You actually caught her?
07:58I caught her!
08:00Number 4.
08:01Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill
08:02The 2021 ensemble film Don't Look Up featured Streep in a pivotal role as the U.S. president.
08:09You cannot go around saying to people that there's a 100% chance that they're gonna die.
08:14You know?
08:15It's just nuts.
08:17Stars Jennifer Lawrence and Jonah Hill had taken to calling her the GOAT.
08:21Now, most of us are aware that GOAT in this case stands for greatest of all time.
08:26As time went on, Lawrence and Hill realized Streep didn't know about this particular acronym.
08:32In fact, she just thought they were calling her a GOAT, as in, the old GOAT.
08:36You know, said something like GOAT, and Meryl kind of said,
08:40That's right, just tell the old GOAT where to go.
08:42And I was like, Meryl, you know that GOAT means greatest of all time, right?
08:48And she was like, Oh, no!
08:52Neither actor knew whether to be more horrified that she thought they were insulting her
08:56or that she just kind of took it in stride while assuming they were referring to her as a farm animal.
09:01And she's so cool, she wasn't even offended by it!
09:04She was just like, I guess he loves me and is calling me a GOAT.
09:07And Jennifer's like, No, Meryl stands for greatest of all time.
09:11So she was like, Hey, thanks for calling me the GOAT.
09:14I thought you were calling me a GOAT this whole time.
09:17Number 3.
09:18Cher.
09:19The multi-hyphenate pop icon in Meryl Streep are not only occasional co-stars,
09:24they're also longtime friends.
09:25I love you, Karen.
09:30I love you too.
09:32During the promotional tour for the Mamma Mia sequel,
09:35Cher told James Corden about a trip to the store that took a turn for the dramatic.
09:39One time, they ventured out in search of ice cream,
09:42and what they found was their true calling as vigilantes.
09:45And Meryl starts screaming, and I start screaming,
09:50and we run towards this gigantic man,
09:53and he turns and starts running towards us.
09:56Seeing a woman being attacked by a large man,
09:59Streep and Cher immediately fended the guy off and rescued her.
10:03The look on the woman's face when she realized who had saved her
10:06must have been priceless.
10:08She looks at us, and she goes,
10:11Oh my god, I was saved by Meryl Streep and Cher.
10:14I'm an actress, and I work in a cafe where we sing,
10:18and all my friends are going to be so jealous.
10:20Number 2.
10:21Viola Davis.
10:23It seems like everybody is a fan of Meryl Streep,
10:25no matter how old they are.
10:27Case in point, Viola Davis' kid.
10:30In this talk show appearance,
10:32Davis tells Ellen DeGeneres about her daughter Genesis,
10:35and her fandom of Into the Woods.
10:37In the film, Streep plays a witch
10:39who casts a spell on a number of fairytale characters.
10:42You're so nice.
10:46You're not good, you're not bad.
10:48You're just nice.
10:50I'm not good, I'm not nice, I'm just right.
10:54Apparently, that spell didn't stay on the screen
10:56because Davis' then-4-year-old daughter
10:59wanted to see the movie several times.
11:01She does, because she's seen Into the Woods 12 times.
11:06Wow.
11:07Twelve times, and she sings in the car,
11:10she says,
11:10it's the last midnight.
11:12Oh, I love Meryl Streep.
11:14When Streep wanted to pass along a message
11:16to her new supporter,
11:17Genesis' adorable response
11:19was actually a quote from the story itself.
11:22She really is a fan.
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11:43The British actress-comedian was one of many lights to salute Meryl Streep
11:52at the presentation of her AFI Life Achievement Award.
11:55She tells a story about how the two were almost in a plane accident
11:59on the way back from shooting the 1985 drama Plenty.
12:02Certainly in a few years, nobody's going to work.
12:06How are you going to live then?
12:10Oh, by the way, is there room for me at your place?
12:13Terrifying as it sounds,
12:15Bowman's retelling has the entire room full of Hollywood legends
12:18practically collapsing with laughter.
12:20I could see the headlines, you know,
12:22Scream legend Streep in Tunisian air disaster.
12:25Also aboard,
12:27Limey Comedienne
12:28Stacey Pullman.
12:33She details the moments she realized
12:35that dying with Streep
12:37was going to make her little more than a footnote
12:39in every news report of the crash.
12:41Luckily, they both lived to tell the tale.
12:44Thespian of the Millennium Awards.
12:46They're happening now,
12:48and it is puzzling to me
12:49because you're only in your early 50s.
12:51A wonderful time for most actresses.
13:02You were the only one blocking!
13:04Did these moments make you love Meryl Streep even more?
13:07Let us know in the comments.
13:09What was the kiss with you and Meryl Streep?
13:12We have a thing.
13:13Yeah, but...
13:14Why is that so hard for everyone?
13:17She just might be attracted to me.
13:20Do you agree with our picks?
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