Celebs Who Can't Stand Meryl Streep

It's no secret Meryl Streep is one of the most celebrated actresses in Hollywood. A total legend, the Out of Africa star has been nominated for an almost almost unbelievable 357 awards and collected another 175 in her trophy cabinet. According to Time, she's won three Oscars. She also has 21 nominations, as of this writing, with her 2018 nod breaking "her own record to become the most nominated actor in the history of the Academy Awards for the second year in a row." So, yeah, The Academy likes her. They really, really like her. 

Nevertheless, once you become a big fish in Hollywood, you're sure to run into a few sharks who'd like to chomp down on your sweet success. Considering she's a coveted actress that seemingly has first dibs on big roles, it's left some of her fellow starlets slightly miffed at the lack of opportunities when going up against the heavy-hitter that is Streep. 

It's not just the on-set competition, either. Streep also faces controversy outside of Tinseltown. A humanitarian (she donated her entire salary from The Iron Lady to the National Women's History Museum!), Streep is very vocal when discussing what she believes in — something that sometimes doesn't bode well with other high-profile celebs. While she's mostly seen as a national treasure, let's take a look at some celebrities who can't stand Meryl Streep.

We can only assume this one was a case of jealousy: iconic Hollywood star Katharine Hepburn apparently couldn't stand fellow actress Meryl Streep! While she apparently took this animosity to her grave in 2003, the juicy secret eventually came to light when Pulitzer-prize winning biographer A. Scott Berg published a book about The Philadelphia Story star, based on two decades of conversation with her.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald, Hepburn had some strong thoughts about Hollywood's heavy-hitters. Among her "admiration for John Travolta" and "fascination with Michael Jackson," the silver screen delight also had an "intense dislike for Meryl Streep as an actress." Wait, why? While she approved of actresses such as Julia Roberts and Melanie Griffith, Hepburn allegedly said Streep was her least favorite, "saying she was too cerebral and over-reliant on technique." Another actress the diva couldn't handle? Glenn Close, musing she had "big, fat, ugly feet." Talk about harsh! 

Considering Streep already had 13 Academy Award noms under her belt up until Hepburn's passing (compared to Hepburn's equally impressive 12 noms, including four wins), perhaps the legendary performer couldn't handle passing the torch to a new leading lady?

They say if you don't have something nice to say, don't say anything at all, yet that hasn't stopped Susan Sarandon from airing out her grievances to the press. The Thelma & Louise star got a little salty when talking about Streep in an issue of Fame magazine (via Chicago Tribune) — but doesn't want you to think she's jealous. 

According to the mag, Sarandon was peeved at what she perceived as Hollywood's worship of the Into the Woods starlet. "Everything goes to Meryl first," Sarandon said, adding, "It's the law. I am one of those who think Meryl is a great actress. I don't elevate her to the goddess level, but she does get first crack at all the women's roles. If other women had the same shots she's had, they could equal her." If you're not cringing already, Sarandon then decided she wanted to make a personal dig, too. ”If her household runs as perfectly as her press would have us believe, I'll slash my throat." Aggressive, but okay. 

It's not like the Big Apple-born celeb hasn't had a successful career — Sarandon's been nominated for 81 awards and has won 55 of them. Not a bad track record if you ask us.

The Harvey Weinstein scandal shook the world in 2017, causing numerous Hollywood starlets to speak out against the once-powerful producer. One of the actresses leading the charge was Rose McGowan, who claimed the Shakespeare in Love producer raped her. Of course, emotions were running high among all those involved. 

Cue the 2017 Golden Globes. According to Variety, Meryl Streep, along with numerous fellow actresses elected to wear black in a silent protest against sexual harassment. Apparently, that wasn't enough for McGowan. The Planet Terror star, in a since-deleted tweet, wrote, "Actresses, like Meryl Streep, who happily worked for The Pig Monster, are wearing black @goldenglobes in a silent protest. YOUR SILENCE is THE problem ... Maybe you should all wear Marchesa." Why was the final sentence so cutting in an already seething message, you may ask? Well, Marchesa is a fashion line co-created by Weinstein's ex-wife, Georgina Chapman.

Streep knew she needed to speak out. She released an exclusive statement to Huffington Post via her publicist, Leslee Dart, revealing, in part, "It hurt to be attacked by Rose McGowan in banner headlines this weekend, but I want to let her know I did not know about Weinstein's crimes, not in the '90s when he attacked her, or through subsequent decades when he proceeded to attack others. I wasn't deliberately silent. I didn't know."

Meryl Streep became a target of one of Donald Trump's infamous Twitter-rants — thanks to her 2017 Golden Globes speech. As reported by The New York Times, the award-winner used her opportunity to bring up a speech given by Trump in 2015. When he was on the campaign trail in South Carolina, Trump allegedly mocked a disabled reporter in front of an entire crowd. Speaking at the Globes, Streep painted the story, "There was one performance this year that stunned me ... Not because it was good; there was nothing good about it ... It was that moment when the person asking to sit in the most respected seat in our country imitated a disabled reporter. It kind of broke my heart when I saw it, and I still can't get it out of my head, because it wasn't in a movie. It was real life."

The president's response? He immediately went to Twitter, writing that he sees Streep as "one of the most over-rated actresses in Hollywood" — and then claimed she doesn't know him.  

An interesting fact to pick up on during Trump's outburst? He may actually know the A-list celeb after all. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter back in 2015, he was asked about any actresses that he loved. His answer? "Meryl Streep is excellent; she's a fine person, too." We'll let you decide on that one.

Julia Roberts is no stranger to the Hollywood gossip mill. According to The Telegraph, in 2014, while journalists were waiting to interview the Pretty Woman actress, they couldn't help but shed some hot gossip to one another. "She doesn't like women in general," dished one reporter, causing another to retort, "She and Meryl Streep can't stand each other." Suddenly, we're all ears. 

As it turns out, it's most likely the buzz came from a source who spoke to The National Enquirer. According to the insider, when the two actresses worked together on August: Osage County, Roberts demanded the ending be changed to showcase more of herself instead of Streep. "Julia can't get enough of her­self on the big screen. When she got the chance, she threw Meryl under the bus for more screen time." If that wasn't enough, she then offered up the director a weird Streep-compliment sandwich. "She told John Wells, 'I love her to death, but she looks so sad on screen it's a down­er.'"

Of course, Roberts isn't going to fess up about her disdain for the fellow starlet. In that same Telegraph interview, she said of Streep, "To get to watch her up close and to see her be a real-life person ... it was a privilege."

Sharon Stone gave Meryl Streep a bizarre, backhanded compliment that left people scratching their heads as to what she possibly could have meant. Speaking to Tatler magazine (via The Telegraph) in 2010, the Basic Instinct star revealed her thoughts on why Streep gets so much work in Hollywood. "Because she looks like a woman we can all relate to," Stone said. "I look at her and I think, 'I'm chasing my kids, I've moved my parents in with me, I'm coping with food spills — that looks like me in real life.'" Which all sounds fine, but then Stone added, "Meryl looks like an unmade bed, and that's what I look like. To me, that looks true." Um, what? 

Naturally, Stone's statement made ripples in the tabloid circuit, causing the celeb to explain herself. Speaking to Us Weekly, Stone clarified, "It is not OK with me for someone to take a statement I made with good-natured intent and to try and make it into something politically incorrect. My love and support for what she represents for women right now is extraordinarily important." Phew. 

Regardless, it's hard to view Streep as an "unmade bed." Like her character, the fashion tycoon Miranda Priestly says in The Devil Wears Prada, "Don't be ridiculous ... everybody wants to be us."  

It's no surprise the president's son, Donald Trump Jr., ran to his father's defense after Meryl Streep's controversial 2017 Golden Globes Speech. Much like his father, the entrepreneur hit Twitter shortly after the ceremony, accusing the A-lister of "Sickening hypocrisy."

Hmm, what exactly did he mean? Trump Jr. was referring to a different speech of Streep's, given at the 2012 Golden Globes when she won the award for best actress in a motion picture drama for her role in The Iron Lady. Thanking "God," the star was actually referring to Harvey Weinstein — causing the now-seething Trump Jr. to bring up the past. "She tries to be a moral compass for others... No thanks," his tweet continued. To add insult to injury, the business mogul then linked a Snopes article which includes a video where Streep supports even more of Hollywood's controversial celebrities. 

According to The Guardian, her 2012 acceptance speech caused an outcry among right wing supporters, allowing for posters to crop up around Los Angeles with Streep's face covered by the words "She Knew." Unfortunately for the actress, it seems Trump Jr. only added fuel to the fire.

Something tells us Mery Streep won't be getting any Chanel goodies anytime soon, considering she insulted the brand's late creative director, Karl Lagerfeld, back in 2017. Causing a bitter feud, the designer dished the dirt to WWD, revealing his version of what happened. 

According to Lagerfeld, the legendary actress ordered a dress for the Oscars and requested an adjustment be made to the design — which he obliged. However, days later, a phone call allegedly came in from a Streep spokesperson. "'Don't continue the dress. We found somebody who will pay us,'" Lagerfeld told the outlet. Claiming the dress was worth "100,000 euros [$105,000]," Lagerfeld continued, "We give them dresses, we make the dresses, but we don't pay ... A genius actress, but cheapness also, no?" The whole sitch is awkward, we know. 

Of course, the designer's claims caused Streep's team to immediately shut down allegations. According to People, as the story kept getting picked up, it forced Chanel to go back and clarify that the starlet never "committed" to the dress. Streep then issued her statement to People: "Karl Lagerfeld, a prominent designer, defamed me ... in an important industry publication. That publication printed this defamation, unchecked ... I do not take this lightly, and Mr. Lagerfeld's generic 'statement' of regret for this 'controversy' was not an apology. He lied, they printed the lie, and I am still waiting."

There's a lot of buzz about Season 2 of HBO's Big Little Lies — and it's not just on-screen. The star-studded cast, including Nicole Kidman and Reese Witherspoon, welcomed Meryl Streep, who plays Kidman's character's troublesome mother-in-law. And it turns out, according to OK USA (via New Idea), Kidman may not be too keen on the Oscar-winning heavyweight's arrival. As an insider dished to the mag, "She's terrified that Meryl is going to steal her spotlight. She's freaking out." Hmm, seems strange considering there were no rumors of in-fighting when the two starred in 2002's The Hours together. Nevertheless, the allegation picked up more steam when another "source" told Life & Style that Streep "picked up on [Kidman's vibe] and the two have really gotten into it."

Maybe this whole beef has something to do with Streep's fat paycheck. Per The Hollywood Reporter, sources said that Kidman and Witherspoon received between $250,000 and $350,000 an episode for Season 1. As for Streep? She's reportedly making around $800,000 per episode. Granted, Kidman and Witherspoon allegedly got sizable raises for Season 2, to the tune of "the $1 million-an-episode ballpark," but they had to prove their chops in Season 1 to get there.

Nevertheless, we suggest taking the allegations with a grain of salt. Considering the actresses are involved in an on-screen feud (not to mention, an epic slap), this could just be a case of die-hard fans salivating for some real-life tea. 

It's been a while since Meryl Streep and Dustin Hoffman have been on good terms. So long, in fact, their feud traces back to 1979, when the now-iconic actress landed her first major role alongside Hoffman in Kramer vs. Kramer. The details of their quarrel were pretty hush-hush until 2016, when an unauthorized Streep biography by Michael Schulman was published, along with a subsequent Vanity Fair piece.

Hoffman is a well-known method actor — something Streep found out firsthand. First, he allegedly slapped her across the face. If that wasn't enough, he then decided to mock the death of Streep's late partner, John Cazale. You'd think he'd maybe get a clue that he took things too far, but his on-screen persona started translating into real-life, also. After Streep tried re-structuring a scene, Hoffman shot back at her, "Meryl, why don't you stop carrying the flag for feminism and just act the scene." Needless to say, the two went their separate ways after filming came to a close.

The Julie & Julia star finally addressed the slap in a 2018 interview with The New York Times. When asked about it, she revealed, "This is tricky because when you're an actor, you're in a scene, you have to feel free ... this was my first movie, and it was my first take in my first movie, and he just slapped me ... It was overstepping." 

Bret Easton Ellis isn't a stranger to controversy. The Less Than Zero author made waves in the early '90s for his portrayal of yuppie culture — even receiving death threats after publishing American Psycho. In more recent years, he's had a lot to say. Usually going on tirades on his Twitter account, Ellis decided to talk about Meryl Streep's 2017 Golden Globes speech in a different way: via podcast. 

According to The Wrap, the author accused Hollywood liberals of "childish meltdowns" — including Streep."Instead of talking about all the filmmakers she had worked with ... Streep used this moment to go on an anti-Trump rant for 10 minutes on national TV ... For some reason I started thinking about the cost of Meryl Streep's gown at the Golden Globes and the $30 million apartment she had recently put on the market in Greenwich Village ... Liberalism used to be about freedom but now is about a kind of warped moral authority."

Naturally, his criticisms picked up steam, with the public suddenly viewing him as a Trump supporter. Ellis, who hasn't ever voted for a president, decided to go live, yet again, on another podcast and clarify his sentiments. Per Yahoo! Entertainment, the Los Angeles native declared, "I want to state that I am not a Republican ... I am not interested in politics .... Because I make fun of hysterical liberals — and why shouldn't I?"

At the end of the day, there's only one person who does the best job at mocking the Oscar-winning actress: Meryl Streep herself. When you have 21 Academy Award nominations under your belt, you definitely become aware of how irritating this could be for your fellow A-listers who are green with envy. 

When the iconic starlet went on stage in 2012 to accept her Oscar for best actress for her role in The Iron lady, she started her speech off by joking, "When they called my name I had this feeling I could hear half of America going, 'Oh no! Oh, come on why, her! Again!'" She then took a page out of Miranda Priestly's book and waved her hand nonchalantly. "But, whatever." 

It's Streep's ability to poke fun at herself that makes her so endearing to the rest of us. A true legend with a career that's spanned decades, the sheer thought of seeing Meryl Streep on the big screen that makes us giddy with glee — it doesn't even matter who she's playing.