Meryl Streep and Lily James were overjoyed to learn that they are related in real life, despite playing two distinct versions of the same character in the Mamma Mia flicks.
It was recently revealed that the two stars in Mamma Mia 2 who play older and younger versions of Donna Sheridan are ninth cousins three times removed and are both descended from Henry Howland, who was born in Cambridgeshire in 1634.
How is Lily James related to Meryl Streep?
Despite their shared family links, Lily was struck with emotion when she first met Meryl on the set of the hit Broadway musical turned blockbuster film.
‘She’s the best actor ever, and I’ve idolized her my whole life, and she was singing a song in the chapel that was so lovely that I was just bawling,’ she revealed on James Corden’s Tonight Show.
A pregnant Sophie (Amanda Seyfried) struggles to run her mother Donna’s home in Greece in the new film, which swings from the past to the present.
Lily portrays Donna before she becomes a mother, while also performing with her band The Dynamos.
