The 2006 hit film The Devil Wears Prada introduced viewers to the terrifying and iconic Miranda Priestly (Meryl Streep), the editor of Runway fashion magazine.
There have long been rumours that Miranda, one of cinema’s worst bosses, is a fictionalised version of fashion industry legend Anna Wintour, who was editor-in-chief of Vogue from 1988 to last year.
Lauren Weisberger, who wrote the bestselling 2003 novel the film was based on, had previously worked as Wintour’s assistant.
Now, with the sequel film The Devil Wears Prada 2 due out in cinemas on 1 May, family history website Ancestry has uncovered an even more remarkable connection between Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour – they’re related.
The two legends have the same 5x great grandparents, Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Kinsey from Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
This makes them sixth cousins.
Anna Wintour is descended from Thomas and Elizabeth’s daughter Eleanor (born 1754) and Meryl Streep from their daughter Martha (born 1758).
In another strange coincidence, Bucks County is twenty miles from Allentown, Pennsylvania – the home town of The Devil Wears Prada author Lauren Weisberger.
The news comes as Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour were photographed together on the front cover of the latest issue of Vogue.
Anna Wintour said: “I’d like to say it’s such an honour to be played by Meryl, however distant Miranda is from myself.”
