This week award-winning journalist and founder of News not Noise, Jessica Yellin, sat down with Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem for a historic conversation. Gathering just two days after the American Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the two women had much to discuss.
Meghan Markle and Gloria Steinem
Gloria, 88, is an American feminist journalist and social political activist who during the 1960s and 1970s was one of the main faces of American feminism. Meghan, 40, began a friendship with Gloria in 2020 when they were both hunkering down in Montecito, California during COVID-19 restrictions. Their connection blossomed over carrying out calls together thanking American voter-registration organisers.
The iconic image of Gloria Steinem (left) and Dorothy Pitman Hughes (right).
As advocates for women’s health rights Meghan and Gloria spoke with Jessica Yellin to place the seismic event of the days before into perspective. Meghan is a mother of two – Archie, 3 and Lili, 1 – which she shares with her husband Prince Harry. On the other hand the revolutionary Gloria has never had children. She has also been open about having aborted an unwanted pregnancy early on in her life.
‘It’s interesting that here you’re talking to two women: one who chose to give birth happily, and one who chose not to give birth happily. And we’re both prospering because we were able to make our own choices. Incredible,’ noted Meghan Markle.
Meghan Markle opens up
While Meghan and her husband Prince Harry are famously honest and open people in interviews, these rarely occur. During her conversation with Gloria and Jessica, Meghan didn’t hold back in getting personal. Especially when reflecting on womanhood, motherhood and pregnancy.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle with with their children Archewell (Archie) and Lilibet (Lili) last year for their Christmas card.
Image from BBC News.
‘I think about how fortunate I felt to be able to have both of my children,’ Meghan said. ‘I know what it feels like to have a connection to what is growing inside of your body. What happens with our bodies is so deeply personal.’ This is especially since Meghan suffered a miscarriage in July 2020. That year she published a moving essay in the New York Times detailing her experience in a bid to reduce the taboo that follows miscarriages. Although so many women deal with health crises like miscarriage (and the choice to abort too), it’s a silent topic full of stigma.
Losing a child means carrying an almost unbearable grief, experienced by many but talked about by few. In the pain of our loss, my husband and I discovered that in a room of 100 women, 10 to 20 of them will have suffered from miscarriage. Yet despite the staggering commonality of this pain, the conversation remains taboo, riddled with (unwarranted) shame, and perpetuating a cycle of solitary mourning,’ Meghan wrote back in 2020.
In conversation this week she again added her voice to the destigmatisation of women’s health. ‘The more that we normalize conversation about the things that affect our lives and bodies, the more people are going to understand how necessary it is to have protections in place,’ Meghan.
The full conversation is available to read on Vogue, linked here.
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