At 10 p. m. ET on a Thursday night, a murder mystery leans into style, mystique, and a familiar silhouette: anna wintour. The reference lands not as a punchline, but as a shorthand for power and reputation—at the same moment new genealogical research draws an unexpected line between Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep, whose most famous fashion-world role has long been tied to Wintour’s image.
What did Ancestry confirm about Anna Wintour and Meryl Streep?
Ancestry confirmed that Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour are related through shared fifth great-grandparents, Thomas Smith and Elizabeth Kinsey, making them sixth cousins. Ancestry also shared that Smith and Kinsey resided in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.
The news arrives ahead of Streep reprising her role as Miranda Priestly—the head of the fictional Runway magazine—in “The Devil Wears Prada 2, ” which is set to arrive in theaters May 1. Streep’s Miranda Priestly has been widely thought to be inspired by Anna Wintour, a connection that now has an added layer of family history.
The same Ancestry finding notes an additional coincidence: Bucks County is 20 miles from where “The Devil Wears Prada” author Lauren Weisberger was raised. Weisberger previously worked as Wintour’s assistant before writing her debut novel.
How have Meryl Streep and Anna Wintour crossed paths over the years?
Streep and Wintour have crossed paths multiple times since “The Devil Wears Prada” was released in 2006. More than a decade after Streep first portrayed Miranda Priestly, she met with Wintour for an interview in Wintour’s Vogue office. Vogue later shared video of their 2017 sit-down, which featured an introduction similar to Miranda Priestly’s dramatic arrival at the beginning of the 2006 film.
In that clip, Wintour brought up Streep’s then-current role in “The Post, ” where Streep played late Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. Wintour described Graham as her friend, then asked Streep to name the most challenging woman she had ever played.
“Hmm … oh I should say!” Streep began, before Wintour laughed and cut her off.
Wintour then said, “No, we’re not going there, Meryl. ”
They reunited again in September 2025 at the Dolce & Gabbana Milan Fashion Week show while Streep was filming “The Devil Wears Prada 2. ” A Vogue-uploaded video of the interaction showed the two embracing while both wore sunglasses indoors, with a caption referencing a line from the first film: “Can you please spell Gabbana. ” In the clip, Streep told Wintour, “This is my first fashion show. ” Wintour later spoke with Stanley Tucci—reprising his role as Nigel Kipling in the sequel—and Simone Ashley, who is playing a new character.
Why is Anna Wintour showing up in fictional characters again?
In another corner of pop culture this week, actor J. Smith-Cameron described building a character on CBS’ “Elsbeth” around the idea of someone trying to emulate Anna Wintour. Smith-Cameron said the concept came from her: rather than attempting a direct impression, she wanted to play a woman who sees Wintour as a hero and tries to copy her.
Smith-Cameron explained some of the choices behind that approach: she went online to buy an inexpensive wig in a pageboy bob style, and she aimed for a voice that sounded like someone trying to sound “a bit English, ” rather than attempting an exact accent. She described the character as “hiding behind a mask, ” an idea she thought would be fun for the show’s tone.
Smith-Cameron also recounted meeting Wintour once at a fashion show and being seated next to her. She recalled that Wintour had sunglasses on and said, “her reputation precedes her, ” but added that Wintour was “very personable” and “lovely. ” Smith-Cameron stressed that her “Elsbeth” character was not meant as her impression of Wintour, but rather of someone obsessed with her—an obsession she said she could relate to, noting that many people she knows are fascinated by Wintour.
On the Thursday, April 3 episode, Smith-Cameron is introduced as an imperious ball director in an episode set around a powerful patriarch who is stabbed with a sword at New York’s most exclusive debutante ball. “Elsbeth, ” which premiered in 2024, follows Carrie Preston’s Elsbeth Tascioni, who becomes a de facto detective aiding the NYPD. The series airs Thursdays at 10 p. m. ET, with new episodes streaming the next day on Paramount+.
How does Anna Wintour respond to comparisons with Miranda Priestly?
A couple of weeks before the September 2025 fashion show reunion, Wintour addressed the long-running comparisons between herself and Miranda Priestly while speaking on “The New Yorker Radio Hour” podcast with host David Remnick. Wintour, described as Condé Nast’s global chief content officer and artistic director, recalled attending “The Devil Wears Prada” premiere 20 years ago while wearing Prada—and “having no idea what the film was going to be about. ”
Wintour said the fashion industry had been concerned the film might depict her in a difficult light. Remnick suggested that people close to her might have worried the portrayal could be “cartoonish. ” Wintour agreed, calling it “a caricature. ”
But she also described her reaction once she saw the movie: “But first of all it was Meryl Streep, which, fantastic, ” Wintour said, adding that she found the film “highly enjoyable and very funny. ” Wintour also mentioned that she and Miuccia Prada talk about the film a lot, and that she has joked to Prada, “Well it was really good for you, ” adding, “You can imagine what she says back. ”
Back at 10 p. m. ET, the TV hour that leaned into the aura of anna wintour is part of the same cultural loop: fame becoming character, character shaping how we watch real people, and real people—sometimes—finding the whole thing funny. In one week, a genealogy chart and a script both point to the same lesson: reputation may precede a person, but it rarely contains them.
