--- title: Meryl Streep Thinks Young Women Shouldn't Worry About Their Weight description: Streep offers advice to young women about how succeed as an actress. canonical: https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/ author: Kelly Conniff article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-04-18T20:40:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T08:55:09.850Z og:title: Here’s Meryl Streep’s Spot-On Advice About Being a Woman og:description: Streep offers advice to young women about how succeed as an actress. og:url: https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89192f17921d848/69868b66cd804d3199cca604/485135401.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Meryl Streep Receives Honorary Degree From Indiana University og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here’s Meryl Streep’s Spot-On Advice About Being a Woman twitter:description: Streep offers advice to young women about how succeed as an actress. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89192f17921d848/69868b66cd804d3199cca604/485135401.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Meryl Streep's Spot-On Advice About Being a Woman  by [Kelly Conniff](https://time.com/author/kelly-conniff/)  ## Kelly Conniff Conniff is deputy editor at TIME. Apr 18, 2014 8:40 PM UTC  Meryl Streep receives a Conferral Honorary Degree from Indiana University on April 16, 2014 in Bloomington, Indiana. Meryl Streep receives a Conferral Honorary Degree from Indiana University on April 16, 2014 in Bloomington, Indiana.Ron Hoskins—Getty Images  by [Kelly Conniff](https://time.com/author/kelly-conniff/)  ## Kelly Conniff Conniff is deputy editor at TIME. Apr 18, 2014 8:40 PM UTC Meryl Streep just added another accolade to her already crowded resume: an honorary doctoral degree from Indiana University. Despite being a Vassar graduate, Streep is a Hoosier by association because of her marriage to sculptor Don Gummer, who studied at IU. After being given the honor, the three-time Oscar winner sat down for a conversation with professor Barbara Klinger. Streep was her predictable amazing self, [dropping knowledge nuggets ](http://www.indianapolismonthly.com/circlecitizen/2014/04/17/meryl-streep-at-iu-i-thought-i-was-too-ugly-to-be-an-actress)about getting started in Hollywood, being an actress over 50 and that time she had pizza at the Oscars. Also, apparently her fans are called Streepers. Who knew? But she hit a home run when she offered advice to people, specifically young women, who want to make it in the entertainment industry: --- > “” --- So listen to Meryl and embrace your inner weirdness. The other best piece of information? Streep says that in the year she turned 40, she was offered three roles as a witch. A WITCH. Actually, on second thought, Meryl as a witch sounds great. And it’s even better when you realize that she’ll play The Witch in the [upcoming film version](http://insidemovies.ew.com/2013/09/26/meryl-streep-witch-into-the-woods-first-look/) of _Into the Woods_. Hollywood, thanks for letting Meryl be great. \[h/t Elle\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/"},"headline":"Here's Meryl Streep's Spot-On Advice About Being a Woman","datePublished":"2014-04-18T20:40:07.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T08:55:09.850Z","description":"Streep offers advice to young women about how succeed as an actress.","url":"https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/","keywords":["Living","Hollywood","Careers","weight","meryl streep","celebrity","Acting","advice","Age"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89192f17921d848/69868b66cd804d3199cca604/485135401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kelly Conniff","jobTitle":"Conniff is deputy editor at TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/kelly-conniff/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb89192f17921d848/69868b66cd804d3199cca604/485135401.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Meryl Streep Receives Honorary Degree From Indiana University","caption":"Meryl Streep Receives Honorary Degree From Indiana University","creditText":"Ron Hoskins—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-living/","name":"Living"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/68255/meryl-streep-advice-women/","name":"Here's Meryl Streep's Spot-On Advice About Being a Woman"}}]}] ```