Meghan Markle accused of making Gloria Steinem's death about herself

As was to be expected, many prominent women around the country paid tribute to Gloria Steinem on Thursday, following the news of her death at age 92.

Melinda French Gates praised the feminist icon for the “decades of energy, brilliance, and advocacy she devoted to women’s rights,” while Oprah Winfrey said the crusading journalist and Ms. Magazine founder made it possible for women to demand “equal pay, equal respect, ownership of her own body, and the right to make her own choices.” Winfrey added: “What a life. What a legacy. What a difference she made.”

Meghan Markle also joined in the celebrity rush to honor Steinem, going on Instagram to point out that she wanted to celebrate the life and legacy of “my friend and mentor.”

But to people online, the tribute by the Duchess of Sussex didn’t appear to be all that focused on memorializing a friend or highlighting her accomplishments and contributions to society. Instead, Meghan wrote quite a bit about herself, with online critics saying she appeared to view the tribute as an opportunity to promote herself and her personal brand.

“Gloria Steinem passed away, and Meghan somehow manages to make it all about her. Are we surprised? I don’t think we are,” said Daily Beast writer and royal author Tom Sykes on his YouTube channel Thursday. “This is a tribute to Gloria in which the star of the story is, over and over, Meghan.”

Sykes noted that Meghan’s tribute comes at yet another crucial time for the American duchess and her husband. The divisive couple have made headlines the past few weeks by suddenly announcing that they are moving back to the United Kingdom after six tumultuous years in the United States. With the move and the reported failure of their California dream to become wealthy media moguls and global influencers, Meghan and Harry appear to be in need of another personal and professional makeover.

In Meghan’s seven-paragraph tribute to one of the most consequential women of the 20th century, the former TV actor and aspiring lifestyle guru mentions multiple times how close they were. Meghan gushes over the friendship bracelet Steinem gave her and recalls the icon spending a Thanksgiving with her and Prince Harry in Montecito and “loving our children (Archie and Lilibet) with her whole heart.” Meghan also reminds people of unspecified “hard times” she went through and lauded Steinem for her “extraordinary advice.”

Given that Meghan has long tried to position herself as a crusading activist, her write-up also places herself on equal footing with Steinem when it comes to advocating on behalf of good causes. Sykes said Meghan positions herself as Steinem’s “collaborator.”

Meghan writes: “Publicly, we did interviews together, called young voters to encourage them to have their voices heard … and brainstormed how to help this beautiful yet complicated world to become more equitable,” The duchess also referred to the fact that she received a Ms. Foundation Award in May 2023, when she writes that they also “attended award ceremonies” together.

Of course, the evening of the Ms. Foundation Award also turned into a public relations disaster for Meghan and Harry after their publicists made the widely derided claim that the couple and her mother were involved in a “near catastrophic,” two-hour car chase with paparazzi in Manhattan.

Sykes criticized the photos of Steinem that Meghan posted. Instead of showing this legendary woman looking “amazing” or “stunning” or at a crucial point in her life and career, Sykes said they only represented memorable moments for Meghan and her association with her. “This is Gloria in my living room. This is Gloria with my kids. This is Gloria having Thanksgiving. This is Gloria in my garden,” Sykes said. Indeed, the photo of Meghan and Steinem in the garden shows them at such a distance that the photo is more about “Meghan’s fabulous garden” and “Meghan’s dogs” and “Meghan being there,” Sykes said.

Sykes said the duchess could have paid tribute to Steinem and taken herself out of the narrative entirely, as some other prominent figures did. These other people just posted beautiful photos of Steinem and quoted her own words or summed up one ore more of the accomplishments she was known for. Meghan also could have adopted this approach and it “would have been a much more appropriate and, frankly, would have made (her) look like a bigger person,” Sykes said.

For Meghan to insert herself into the Steinem narrative, as she was supposedly writing a tribute to her, “it just completely exposes her to this allegation that she is just so self-interested and so self-serving, and everything has to be about herself,” Sykes said.

That’s the conclusion of some of Sykes followers, as well, with one who wrote: “A textbook example of how a narcissist makes other people’s significance all about herself!” Some even had critical things to say about Meghan’s post in response to People magazine’s flattering article about it.

“Is there nothing this woman won’t do to stay in the news and seem relevant?” someone asked? Another said, “I think Markle probably glommed onto Ms. Steinem for clout and validation.”

There were even more critical comments on People magazine’s X account. “Of course, there goes MM, trying to steal even a dead woman’s spotlight,” one person said. The number of harsh comments suggested that Meghan should have perhaps considered staying off Instagram or, at the very least, adopted the approach Sykes suggested of keeping herself out of the tribute as much as possible.

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