'It's always been a great form of therapy': Meryl Streep, 69, admits she felt 'very misunderstood' as a young woman and reveals how acting gave her 'so much confidence'
Her career spanning over 30 years has seen Meryl Streep play complicated women.
And in The Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday, the Oscar-winning star revealed how acting has 'always been a great form of therapy'.
The 69-year-old admitted that she often felt 'very misunderstood' as a young woman.
Candid confession: Meryl Streep, 69, admitted to the Sydney Morning Herald on Sunday that she felt 'very misunderstood' as a young woman
'I always found that acting gave me so much confidence when I was starting out, because as a young woman I often felt very misunderstood, and I worried about the kind of impression people had of me,' Meryl explained.
By playing complicated women in various films, Meryl went on to detail how acting enabled her to unravel parts of her psyche.
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'Acting has always been a great form of therapy for me, because the more I try to understand the women I'm playing, the more I understand something about myself,' she said.
Meryl, who has raised four children with her husband of 40 years, Donald Gummer, added that it's important for Hollywood to continue making films centred on women.
'A great form of therapy for me': Meryl went on to detail how playing women when starting out, enabled her to unravel parts of her psyche. Pictured in 1978 miniseries Holocaust
Meryl's latest acting role sees her play Mary Louise Wright in hit drama series Big Little Lies - the mother-in-law of Celeste Wright (Nicole Kidman), who is out to find how her son Perry died.
Nicole, 51, recently told UK's HELLO! magazine that having the screen legend join the cast for the second season, 'elevated' the entire series.
She said: 'Meryl is just amazing. To watch her do her craft - and it really is artistic craft - we all just went, 'Can you believe it?''
Screen legend: Meryl's latest acting role sees her join the second season of drama series Big Little Lies
'It raises the bar for everyone. I think she elevates the show. We have meaty really great scenes. It was fun watching her enthusiasm for work still.'
'She has a fantastic character. It's grounded and it's based in something very, very real,' Nicole added.
Big Little Lies Season Two airs Monday June 10 at 8.30pm on Fox Showcase
'It raises the bar for everyone': Co-producer and star Nicole Kidman, 51, recently told UK's HELLO! magazine that Meryl's addition 'elevated' the show
