Meryl Streep lands her first Vogue cover

Meryl Streep's January cover. (Source: Vogue.)

Oscar-winning actress Meryl Streep has been given her first Vogue cover.

Streep, 62, who can currently been seen playing Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady, is the cover star of the January 2012 issue of the fashion bible.

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She told the magazine: “I was joking with the ladies earlier.

"And I told them I was probably the oldest person ever to be on the cover of Vogue."

Streep told the magazine she had been worried when she marked her 40th birthday in thinking good roles would dry up.

She said: “I remember turning to my husband [sculptor Don Gummer] and saying, 'Well, what should we do? Because it's over.'

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"Once women passed childbearing age they could only be seen as grotesque on some level.”

The actress explained how she approached the role of Thatcher, a performance for which she has been commended.

Streep explained: "With any character I play, where she is me is where I meet her. It's very easy to set people at arm’s length and judge them.

"Yes, you can judge the policies and the actions and the shortcomings-—but to live inside that body is another thing entirely. And it's humbling on a certain level and infuriating, just like it is to live in your own body. Because you recognize your own failings, and I have no doubt that she recognized hers."