After more than 30 years helming Vogue, and becoming a pop icon in the process, Anna Wintour has graced the cover of the fashion magazine alongside her Hollywood doppelganger, Meryl Streep.

The former editor-in-chief of Vogue, who stepped down last year, is photographed by Annie Leibovitz alongside Streep, who plays Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada, a brash, ruthless editor of a fashion magazine thought to be based on Wintour.

In an interview by the Barbie director, Greta Gerwig, Wintour said it was “such an honour to be played by Meryl” but suggested the character of Priestly was “distant” from the real Wintour. She called the character an “extraordinary gift”.

She said: “I like my age. I feel as alive, excited and aware as ever, and I like to learn from my children and from all my teams around the world. It’s always exciting.

“And I think with experience, you have a sense of balance and proportion, and you know that life is not perfect and that things will go wrong and you’re just going to give it your best shot. But if it doesn’t work, you have to move on. I feel age is actually an advantage.”

Asked how she would feel about swapping jobs with Streep, Wintour said: “There’s no way. I have no gifts. I have absolutely no gifts at all. I can’t sing, I can’t dance, I can’t act, I’m useless with my hands, I can’t cook, I certainly can’t sew.”

The Devil Wears Prada is based on the novel of the same name by Lauren Weisberger, who had been Wintour’s assistant at Vogue. The film starred Anne Hathaway as an aspiring reporter who secures a post as a lackey to the ice-cold editor of the fictional publication Runway. The Devil Wears Prada 2, a sequel to the 2006 original, is out in cinemas next month.

Wintour has previously given a more mixed reaction to the character. Speaking to the New Yorker editor, David Remnick, on a podcast, she said: “I went to the premiere wearing Prada, completely having no idea what the film was going to be about.”

Remnick suggested it was “cartoonish”, to which Wintour agreed, adding: “Yes, a caricature.” But Wintour said she was surprised by the subtlety of the portrayal, and impressed more generally by the film.

“I found it highly enjoyable. It was very funny,” she said. “Miuccia [Prada] and I talk about it a lot, and I say to her: ‘Well, it was really good for you.’”

Wintour and Streep may share more than a Hollywood portrayal. A genealogy report by Ancestry has claimed they are sixth cousins.