Oprah Winfrey, Meghan Markle and More Pay Tribute to Gloria Steinem: “Helped Shape the World for Women and All People”

The industry is mourning writer, activist and icon of the feminist movement Gloria Steinem after her death at age 92 was announced on Thursday.

According to posts on her and her foundation’s Instagram accounts, Steinem “passed away peacefully” at her home in New York City “surrounded by many who loved her.“

Recognized as one of the leading figures in the feminist movement, Steinem was active in both politics and media to advance her causes. As a journalist in her early career, she penned political columns and features for New York magazine, with additional published work in Esquire and The New York Times Magazine. She received an Emmy nomination (shared with David Frost, Buck Henry and others) in 1965 for her work on the series, That Was the Week That Was. She also produced and hosted HBO’s Emmy-winning 1993 child-abuse documentary Multiple Personalities: The Search for Deadly Memories and Viceland’s Emmy-nominated 2016 docuseries Woman.

Other accomplishments include being a co-founder for the National Women’s Political Caucus in 1971 and Ms. magazine.

Following news of her death, many in the industry and politics took to social media to pay tribute to the icon for her role in the progress of women freedom and rights.

Oprah Winfrey wrote on her social media, “Every woman who has ever walked into a room knowing she belongs there; every woman who has demanded equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body, and the right to make her own choices; every girl who has grown up assuming that her dreams are hers to pursue — whether she knows Gloria Steinem’s name or not — is living, in some measure, inside the progress Gloria helped create. She leaves us with more freedom than she inherited and with the responsibility to keep widening that freedom for the women and girls who come next.”

Lena Dunham shared a photograph with Steinem writing, “It will never cease to amaze me that I had the chance to know you. But- despite your towering stature, your thousands of obligations, the urgency of your mission- you gave so many women the chance to know you. You weren’t just generous with your life force, your vision or your intellect: you were generous with your time, your laughter and even your jewelry (like the time I admired your silver vulva ring and you plucked it off your hand and placed it on mine.)“

Meghan Markle also penned a tribute to Steinem on her Instagram, where she reflected on their friendship. Steinem presented Meghan with the Ms. Foundation’s Women of Vision Award in 2003. “You all know her many accolades and the way in which she helped shape the world for women and all people – ‘we are linked, not ranked‘ she would tell me, and the bracelet she gave me said exactly that. I still wear it with pride,“ Markle wrote.

Julianne Moore, who played Steinem in the 2020 film The Glorias, reflected on portraying the activist: “The time I spent studying Gloria Steinem in order to play her was one of the most edifying of my life.“

Below are more tributes.