Meghan Sussex has paid an emotional tribute to Gloria Steinem, remembering the activist who helped shape the women’s rights movement and the woman who became a close friend and mentor. In a deeply personal message following Steinem’s death, Meghan reflected on a friendship that extended far beyond public appearances and campaign events. Some of her most treasured memories came from quieter moments: Steinem spending Thanksgiving with her family, loving her children, offering guidance during difficult times, and remaining a fierce champion of female friendship.

Steinem lived by one guiding philosophy: “We are linked, not ranked.” The phrase appeared on a bracelet she gave Meghan, who still wears it proudly. But it was another story that Meghan said remained her favourite. When a woman once worried that her young daughter might not recognise Steinem, the activist reportedly replied that it did not matter whether the girl knew who she was. What mattered was that the girl knew who she was herself.

For Meghan, it was a fitting reflection of the woman behind decades of activism: someone whose work was ultimately about helping other women understand their own worth.

A Friendship Rooted in Activism

Meghan and Steinem’s friendship began in 2020, when they connected after discovering they were both sheltering in Montecito during the pandemic. They bonded over voter-registration work, spending time together at Steinem’s dining table cold-calling voters. Meghan later described Steinem as one of the women she honoured when she voted.

One of their most memorable public appearances came in August 2020, when they sat down for a conversation about voting and representation. The discussion took place amid nationwide protests following George Floyd’s murder and renewed conversations about racism and policing. Steinem spoke about the decisive role Black women had played in recent US elections and welcomed Kamala Harris’s nomination as the Democratic vice-presidential candidate.

For Meghan, Harris’s nomination carried personal significance. Speaking about her experience growing up biracial, she reflected on the importance of seeing yourself represented in positions of influence. “Growing up, whether it was a doll or a person in office, you need to see someone who looks like you in some capacity,” she said. “As many of us believe, you can only be what you can see.”

Their conversation extended beyond representation. Meghan referenced Safiya Umoja Noble’s Algorithms of Oppression, which examines how search engines reproduce racial stereotypes. She argued that technology can quietly shape how society understands race, connecting the issue to a larger question: who shapes the information people see, and what happens when existing prejudices become embedded in digital systems?

The pair also spoke about voter suppression. Meghan revealed she had discussed the issue with Stacey Abrams, who in 2018 became the first Black woman to become a major-party nominee for governor in the United States.

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Their Friendship Continued Beyond the 2020 Election

Meghan and Steinem’s relationship did not end with the presidential election. Their friendship continued to develop around some of the defining women’s rights battles of the following years.

In June 2022, just days after the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Meghan and Steinem joined journalist Jessica Yellin for a conversation about abortion rights, political action and the future of the women’s movement. Meghan credited Steinem with teaching her that anger can turn into meaningful action, while the pair also revealed that they were working together to support efforts surrounding the Equal Rights Amendment.

Their relationship was personal as well as political. The following month, photographers captured Meghan and Steinem having lunch together in New York after Prince Harry’s appearance at the United Nations. Later that year, Steinem appeared in Harry and Meghan’s Netflix series Live to Lead.

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In May 2023, Steinem presented Meghan with the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award for her advocacy for women and girls. Accepting the honour, Meghan thanked Steinem for her mentorship, advice, humour and friendship. Steinem, meanwhile, publicly defended Meghan against the image created by the British tabloids, telling Town & Country that people might not know “just how wonderful she is.“

Their private friendship continued in the years that followed. Steinem spent Thanksgiving 2023 with the Sussex family, and Meghan visited her again in New York in 2025. A photograph of Harry, Meghan, Archie and Lilibet was also later spotted displayed in Steinem’s home office, another indication of how deeply the Sussex family had become part of her personal life.

Gloria Steinem Also Influenced Prince Harry

The friendship eventually extended to Harry. During Meghan and Steinem’s 2020 conversation, Meghan recalled Harry proudly telling Steinem he considered himself a feminist. What appeared to matter most to Meghan was the example that attitude could provide for their son, Archie. She spoke about the importance of Archie growing up with a father comfortable identifying as a feminist.

For years, sections of the British press have portrayed the changes in Harry’s life primarily as evidence of Meghan’s control over him. His increasing willingness to discuss racism, mental health and inequality has been folded into a narrative that Meghan transformed or manipulated him. But there is another interpretation: people influence the people they love. Harry’s worldview evolved, and Gloria Steinem appears to have been part of that world too.

Trump’s Six-Year Feud

Meghan’s conversation with Steinem formed part of a wider effort to encourage Americans to participate in the 2020 election. Six weeks before Election Day, Meghan and Harry appeared during the TIME100 special, speaking about voting, misinformation and online hostility. Neither endorsed a presidential candidate, but their comments still sparked controversy. Trump responded that he was “not a fan” of Meghan, while Piers Morgan accused Harry of interfering in the American election.

Six years later, on the same day that Steinem died, Trump was still taking swipes at Meghan. Asked about the Sussexes’ return to Britain, the US President said he was “happy about it,” adding that he was “not a fan” of the couple. He accused them of treating the Royal Family with “great disrespect” and singled out Meghan for being “terribly disrespectful” to Queen Elizabeth II and King Charles. In a separate interview, he described Meghan as a “horrible influence” on Harry and criticised Harry’s treatment of Prince William in Spare. Trump said that if he were King Charles, he would not have resumed contact with Harry.

Given that Steinem once joked, “If Trump spoke well of me, I would shoot myself,” Meghan might well be doing just fine by her mentor’s standards. Steinem was an outspoken critic of Trump, and there is a certain irony in Meghan, one of her closest friends and mentees, remaining firmly on the wrong side of his approval six years later.

“We Are Linked, Not Ranked”

Perhaps the phrase that best explains why Steinem meant so much to Meghan is the one on the bracelet she gave her: “We are linked, not ranked.”

Steinem returned to one idea throughout her work: equality does not mean replacing one hierarchy with another. Liberation depends on recognising that people are connected, not arranged by who deserves more power or dignity. Meghan said she still wears the bracelet with pride. The phrase also helps explain why their relationship moved so naturally from public activism into genuine friendship.

Steinem was not simply someone Meghan admired from a distance. She became someone Meghan called when life became difficult. Someone who offered advice over tea. Someone who spent Thanksgiving with the Sussex family. And someone who loved Archie and Lilibet. Steinem also introduced Meghan to one of the women who would become one of her closest friends—a detail that feels especially appropriate for someone who spent so much of her life arguing for solidarity between women.

A framed photograph shows Gloria Steinem sitting outdoors beside young Prince Archie, whose face is covered with a white heart for privacy.

Steinem’s Lesson Was Bigger Than Steinem

The most revealing part of Meghan’s tribute may be the story she chose as her favourite. Steinem was once approached in New York by a woman who wanted to introduce her young daughter. The woman worried that the child might be too young to know who the famous feminist was. Steinem was unconcerned. “It doesn’t matter if she knows who I am,” Meghan remembered her saying. “What matters is that she knows who SHE is.”

In a few sentences, Steinem had reduced decades of feminist activism to its most fundamental purpose. The objective was never simply to make Gloria Steinem famous. It was to make generations of women understand their own value, their own political power and their own right to determine the direction of their lives.

That is why Meghan’s tribute feels like a goodbye to someone who profoundly shaped her. The public knew Gloria Steinem as the journalist and feminist who helped change the political language surrounding women’s equality. Meghan knew that woman too. But she also knew Glo, the friend at Thanksgiving, the mentor with a cup of tea, the woman who loved her children, the person she turned to during difficult moments.

And perhaps most importantly, the woman who reminded her that none of this was ultimately about being ranked above anyone else. It was about remaining linked.

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