1982 Oscar-Winning Drama's Child Costar Brings Iconic Onscreen Mom to Tears 44 Years Later
A surprise on French television turned a routine press tour stop into one of the most emotional moments of Meryl Streep's career.
While promoting The Devil Wears Prada 2 alongside Stanley Tucci on Journal de 20 heures, the Oscar winner was handed a tablet by host Laurent Delahousse and told to press play. What she saw made her clutch her chest and tear up on live air. The video came from Jennifer Lawn Lejeune, the actress who played Streep's daughter Eva Zawistowska in the 1982 drama Sophie's Choice. Lejeune was 4 years old when she filmed the role. She now lives in France, where she works in finance.
A Full-Circle Moment 44 Years in the Making
In the message, Lejeune recalled telling her own mother, after working with Streep, that the actress was her "favorite mother" because Streep "was always nice to me and playing with me," she said in the clip aired byJournal de 20 heures.
Streep, watching the woman speak, asked the host quietly, "That's the child?" Her eyes welled. "What a gift," she said.
Why 'Sophie's Choice' Still Hits
Released in 1982 and directed by Alan J. Pakula from his own adapted screenplay, Sophie's Choice earned Streep her first Best Actress Oscar at the 55th Academy Awards. Adapted from the William Styron novel, the film follows a Polish immigrant in Brooklyn carrying a devastating secret from Auschwitz. Sophie's Choice also marked Kevin Kline's feature-film debut, opposite Peter MacNicol as the young writer Stingo.
Lejeune appeared in the harrowing flashback in which Sophie is forced to choose which of her two children survives. In a 2014 Blu-ray commentary, Lejeune said the separation scene was shot 13 times.
Theaters in 4 Days
The reunion came as Streep, Tucci, Anne Hathaway and Emily Blunt wrap the press push for The Devil Wears Prada 2, which world-premiered April 20, 2026 at Lincoln Center's David Geffen Hall in New York. Lady Gaga joins the sequel cast. The film opens in U.S. theaters Friday, May 1, 2026, via 20th Century Studios.
For all the fashion and the spectacle on the press tour, the Journal de 20 heures moment cut through differently. Forty-four years after the cameras stopped rolling on a 4-year-old playing her daughter, the bond translated through a screen.
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This story was originally published April 27, 2026 at 1:55 PM.