Hillary Clinton is remembering Gloria Steinem through a conversation the two women shared at Steinem’s New York home in 2025.
Clinton called into CBS Mornings on September 3, hours after Steinem’s death was announced, and said she was “heartsick.” She described her longtime friend as an “eternal signal fire” who remained “burning bright to the very last hour of her life,” according to Entertainment Weekly.
Steinem died peacefully September 2 at her New York City home at 92. Her foundation said she was surrounded by people who loved her, and no cause of death has been announced.
Clinton said their 2025 visit included an “incredible conversation” about the resistance women continue to face in the United States and elsewhere. What stayed with her was Steinem’s refusal to treat those setbacks as a reason to give up.
Clinton Says Steinem Chose Optimism Every Day
Clinton told Gayle King that Steinem’s optimism was not naïve. She described it as a deliberate moral choice that shaped the way Steinem approached activism, setbacks and the people whose experiences she spent decades listening to. “Gloria was at heart an optimist,” Clinton said in the CBS interview. “Her activism was rooted in optimism, and that’s a moral choice, and she made it every day.”
She also called Steinem “one of the architects of the entire structure of women’s equality,” pointing to opportunities in education, employment, sports and public life that were closed to many women when Clinton was young. Steinem did not personally walk through every door she helped open, Clinton said, but she pushed hard enough for millions of other women to follow.
Clinton returned repeatedly to Steinem’s ability to listen. She said Steinem traveled throughout the United States and around the world collecting other people’s experiences, then used those stories to strengthen her organizing rather than simply delivering a message of her own.
Their 2025 Conversation Focused on Setbacks and Possibility
Clinton said she felt fortunate to have spent time with Steinem personally after first watching her emerge as a national figure during the 1960s and 1970s. By the time Clinton visited her home in 2025, their relationship had developed across decades of political work, public appearances and friendship.
During that visit, the two discussed what Clinton described as renewed challenges to women’s full participation and equality. Steinem’s response was still rooted in optimism, even after spending more than half a century watching political victories arrive, stall and sometimes reverse.
Clinton said that perspective was part of what made Steinem an “eternal signal fire.” She wanted Steinem’s voice to remain present through future setbacks, especially for younger women who did not experience the restrictions that shaped earlier generations firsthand.
Clinton Wants Younger Women to Keep Bringing Others With Them
Clinton said Steinem “embodied possibility,” but she framed that legacy as something larger than individual success. She encouraged younger women to pursue their own education and ambitions while also helping other people gain access to the same opportunities.
That message became especially personal when Clinton mentioned her granddaughter and said she did not want the next generation to have fewer rights than her own. “I’m hoping that young women realize that the fight is worth it. It is exhilarating,” she said, adding that Steinem’s life had been filled with friendships, conversations and causes that gave it meaning.
For Clinton, continuing Steinem’s work does not mean copying her career. It means resisting discouragement, refusing to narrow one’s world to personal problems and finding ways to bring other people forward as well.
Steinem’s Home and Final Memoir Will Carry Her Work Forward
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The announcement from Steinem’s official Instagram account and Gloria’s Foundation said she “continued working for equality until the very end.” Her longtime home had already become a gathering place for activists and organizers through discussions known as Talking Circles, a tradition the foundation intends to continue.
Gloria’s Foundation says it has hosted more than 50 Talking Circles since 2022, with more than 200 people attending gatherings at Steinem’s home during the past three years. The organization plans to preserve the space as a permanent center for organizing, activism and future movement building.
Steinem also left another book behind. Penguin Random House will publish her second memoir, An Unexpected Life, on September 22. The book looks back at her childhood, early journalism and six decades of activism while also considering the work future generations will inherit.