Meryl Streep and Cher have a lot in common. Both women are Academy award-winning actresses (they even starred in a 1983 film together), philanthropists, women's rights activists, have fantastic vocals as well as dancing skills, and have previously fought off an attacker together.
Yes, you read that right. Two of Hollywood's biggest stars are not to be messed with on or off set.
Meryl, 68, went into details about her and Cher's encounter with a mugger during her speech at the 2017 Committee to Protect Journalists International Press Freedom Awards in New York, where she presented an award to Mexican journalist Patricia Mayorga.
She addressed the room by touching on the current movement of women opening up about dealing with violence and abuse. She shared her own personal experience with "real physical violence."
"I do know something about real terror," she said. "The two times in my life when I was threatened and dealt with real physical violence, I learned something about life that I wouldn't have known otherwise. I was lucky because my instincts served me well."
"I played dead, and waited till the blows stopped, watching, like people say you do, from somewhere about 50 feet above where I was beaten," The Mamma Mia! star explained.
She then went on to talk about the second incident, during which she and Cher were courageous enough to go after the assailant.
Meryl revealed that neither she nor Cher were under attack, but as onlookers they couldn't stand around and watch someone else get abused.
"In the second instance," Streep continued, "someone else was being abused and I just went completely nuts and went after this man. Ask Cher "” she was there.
By taking action, the pair managed to save the victim: "And the thug ran away, it was a miracle," Meryl added.
While Cher, 71, wasn't at the event, she did confirm the story during an interview with Us Weekly back in 2013.
"Meryl Streep and I saved a girl from a large mugger in New York City," she recalled.
Meryl then went to reveal the ways in which these incidents affected her.
"I was changed by these events, on a cellular level," she admitted. "Women do know something particular about coming to the danger place, because we come to it disadvantaged, through the many millennia preceding our present moment."
"Because of our vulnerability, we anticipate danger, we expect it, are hyperalert to it; we have the 360 on the whole room. We have, measurably, more acute hearing, sense of smell. We notice details, what people are wearing, their tics and peculiarities," she added.
You can watch her deliver the speech in the video below:
Meryl and Cher are basically real life superheros, and we can't help but love them more than we already do. It's amazing that they were able to stand up for another woman during a time of need.
If you can't get enough of Meryl and Cher, they'll be starring as a mother-daughter duo in Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again, which is expected to hit theaters next summer.
