Inside Meryl Streep's Mysterious Relationship With John Cazale

Meryl Streep and her husband, Don Gummer, have been married for over four decades, and the pair share four children together — daughters Mamie, Grace, and Louisa, and son, Henry. They have been together so long that it might surprise you to learn that Streep had another great love before they met.

Streep was in her 20s when she met John Cazale, who was 14 years her senior. The two were starring in the New York Shakespeare Festival production of "Measure for Measure" in 1976 (via People). Their attraction was immediate, with Streep later telling the NY Post, "He wasn't like anybody I'd ever met. It was the specificity of him, and his sort of humanity and his curiosity about people, his compassion."

Sadly, their relationship would only last two years. After missing a few rehearsals for his play "Agamemnon" due to poor health, Cazale was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer (via NY Post). Streep spent the last five months of Cazale's life completely devoted to making sure his days were as joyous as they could be.

Theater producer Joe Papp told People, "She took care of him like there was nobody else on earth. She never betrayed him in his presence or out of his presence. Never betrayed any notion that he would not survive. He knew he was dying, the way a dying man knows it. She gave him tremendous hope."