A POST SHARED on social media purports to be written by actress Meryl Streep, saying it shows her after being rejected at an audition in the 1970s for being ‘too ugly’.
The photo of young Streep smiling in a packed New York subway car has resurfaced on Facebook under a post seemingly written by the star herself.
The accompanying caption read: “This was me on my way home from an audition for King Kong where I was told I was too “ugly” for the part. This was a pivotal moment for me.”
The actress allegedly wrote “this one rogue opinion could derail my dreams of becoming an actress or force me to pull myself up by the bootstraps and believe in myself.
“I took a deep breath and said ‘I’m sorry you think I’m too ugly for your film but you’re just one opinion in a sea of thousands and I’m off to find a kinder tide.’ Today I have 18 Academy Awards.”
The post appears as if it had been made from her Facebook account, using the same font, colours and layout of an earlier version of social media app alongside a profile photo of Streep.
It’s a great story of vindication – but is it true? Was this widely shared photo taken after a rejection? Was the Facebook post written by the Hollywood golden girl herself?
The Claim
This photo is of Meryl Streep returning home from an audition after being rejected as ‘too ugly’ for a role in King Kong.
The Evidence
Meryl Streep auditioned for King Kong in 1975 and failed to get the part, with the lead female role eventually going to Jessica Lange.
According to Streep the film’s director Dino De Laurentiis did call her ‘ugly’
In January 2015 Streep recounted her experience on the Graham Norton Show.
Dino De Laurentiis Jr, the son of the the director, saw Streep in a play and invited her to audition for the role.
Streep said when she walked in, the father told his son in Italian “che brutta” (“how ugly”).
Her response in Italian was “I understand what you’re saying, I’m sorry I’m not beautiful enough to be in King Kong.”
She described the moment as “very sobering for a young girl”.
However the accompanying photo is not of the Sophie’s Choice actress heading home from the ill-fated audition. That photo was taken by photographer Ted Thai in 1981 – 6 years after the King Kong tryout in 1975.
It is not ‘me on my way home’ as the post claimed. By the time this photo was taken, Streep had already won an Oscar for her role in Kramer vs Kramer.
Also, she did not win 18 Academy Awards as the post claims. To date she has been nominated 21 times but has only won three.
Verdict
This post was first debunked when it went viral in 2015 by Buzzfeed and Nylon. However it continued to spread, with rapper Macklemore falling victim to the counterfeit Streep post. The Thrift Shop singer referenced it in a radio interview in 2017 about social media and inspiration.
The fake Streep post appears to have had a resurgence in February 2022, with a Crowdtangle search showing a spike of 12.5k interactions with at least 25 re-posts of the bogus claim.
Meryl Streep did go on to win Academy Awards after being told she was ‘ugly’ at an audition, but while we love a good redemption story this post is a fake.
This claim has been DEBUNKED.
TheJournal’s FactCheck is a signatory to the International Fact-Checking Network’s Code of Principles. You can read it here. For information on how FactCheck works, what the verdicts mean, and how you can take part, check out our Reader’s Guide here. You can read about the team of editors and reporters who work on the factchecks here.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
have your say