Meryl Streep Recalls Her Disastrous Prom Dress: 'Both Spaghetti Straps Popped Off'

Meryl Streep's prom was as memorable as some of her Oscar-winning performances.

The actress recalled her own high school prom in this week's issue of PEOPLE while promoting her Netflix musical The Prom.

"I had a pretty little dress that my mother had made me. It had two little spaghetti straps," says Streep. "I walked out to the car and I plopped down in the front seat and both spaghetti straps popped off."

Streep, who stars as a washed-up Broadway actress in the Ryan Murphy-directed film, says she "tried to tuck them underneath" her dress.

"I was 14, I had nothing to hold up the dress except my arm," she says. "So I kept my arms pinned to my sides for four and a half hours at my prom."

While her prom didn't go exactly as she'd planned, her latest film, based on the critically acclaimed 2018 Broadway musical, gets all the star treatment.

Streep stars alongside her Big Little Lies costar Nicole Kidman as well as James Corden and Andrew Rannells in the musical. They bring to life egotistical Broadway stars who head to small-town Indiana to help a high school girl, Emma, who's banned from attending her school's prom because she wants to bring her girlfriend, Alyssa, as her date.

While it sounds like a noble cause, the foursome is mainly in it for the good press they'll receive.

Jo Ellen Pellman stars as Emma and Broadway star Ariana DeBose as Alyssa, Emma's secret girlfriend. Keegan-Michael Key stars as the Broadway-loving principal and Kerry Washington plays the drama teacher.

The film has been hailed by critics, with Variety's critic Clayton Davis tweeting, “‘The Prom’ is just pure joy.”

The Prom opens in select theaters and arrives on Netflix this Friday.

For more about The Prom, pick up the latest issue of PEOPLE, on newsstands Friday.