Meryl Streep Cut a 'Car-Size Hole in the Fence' for a Harrowing Getaway During L.A. Wildfires

Mar. 15, 2025

Meryl Streep on May 14, 2024.Photo:Samir Hussein/WireImage

Samir Hussein/WireImage

Meryl Streep’s nephew is sharing a nerve-wracking tale of how the celebrated actressescaped the wildfires in Los Angeles.

Streep, 75, was forced to cut a large enough hole in her fence to drive a car through while she evacuated her home on Jan. 8, one day aftermultiple wildfires began raging throughout L.A., as her nephew Abe Streep wrote in aNew YorkMagazinearticle detailing the fires' destruction.

“Evacuation mandates were sent across the city. My aunt Meryl Streep received an order to evacuate on January 8, but when she tried to leave, she discovered that a large tree had fallen over in her driveway, blocking her only exit,” theBrothers on Three: A True Story of Familyauthor wrote. “Determined to make it out, she borrowed wire cutters from a neighbor, cut a car-size hole in the fence she shared with the neighbors on the other side, and drove through their yard to escape.”

Meryl’s nephew Abe also spoke with her longtime friend andOnly Murders in the BuildingcostarMartin Short, as well as actorHaley Joel Osment, as he detailed the disastrous fires that swept through L.A.’s Pacific Palisades and Altadena communities earlier this month, displacing tens of thousands of residents.

Meryl Streep on Feb. 6, 2024.Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

Dia Dipasupil/WireImage

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Osment lost 500 records he owned and a piano his parents had gifted him for his 18th birthday. The actor toldNew YorkMagazinethat his father was struggling with the loss of his own home as well. “Not to cast blame or anything, but I just want to know, when this is all investigated — was there a decision to just let the whole neighborhood go?” Osment said.

Meryl Streep on Nov. 15, 2024.John Nacion/Getty

John Nacion/Getty

Click hereto learn more about how to help the victims of the L.A. fires.

source: people.com