Meryl Streep has revealed she was once so violently beaten she was forced to “play dead” and “waited until the blows stopped”. The Oscar-winning actress said in a speech she has twice experienced violent assaults, adding that the ordeals were so profound it changed her “on a cellular level”. Recounting the two experiences, the 68-year-old said the second incident involved someone else being abused. She said in that case, she “went completely nuts” and chased the man off, but added that the experiences had changed her permanently. The actress did not give any more details of when the events occurred or who was involved, other than to say that the singer Cher witnessed the second incident. The actress made the remarks at a press freedom awards event in New York She praised journalists for their bravery at the Committee to Protect Journalists’ 27th annual award ceremony, telling the audience she did “know something about real terror”. Last month, Streep spoke out about abuse within the entertainment industry in the wake of numerous allegations of sexual assault made against producer Harvey Weinstein. Streep, who has worked with Weinstein on a number of films, including August: Osage County and The Iron Lady, once even referred to the movie mogul as “God”. She said she knew nothing of the allegations against Weinstein or the financial settlements he made with women who had accused him of assault, but praised the bravery of the women who had come forward “The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported,” Streep said. “The intrepid women who raised their voices... are our heroes. In a lengthy statement she added: “I didn’t know about these other offences: I did not know about his financial settlements with actresses and colleagues; I did not know about his having meetings in his hotel room, his bathroom, or other inappropriate, coercive acts — and if everybody knew, I don’t believe that all the investigative reporters in the entertainment and the hard news media would have neglected for decades to write about it.” Streep has previously been reported to have experienced inappropriate sexual behaviour within the industry. A 1979 article by Time magazine quoted the actress relating a meeting with Dustin Hoffman to audition for a play he was directing. The article quoted Streep as saying: “He came up to me and said, ‘I’m Dustin-burp-Hoffman,’ and he put his hand on my breast.”. A spokesman for the actress said the article was inaccurate but added: “There was an offence and it is something for which Dustin apologised. And Meryl accepted that.”
