Feminist Icon Gloria Steinem Dies Aged 92 — 'She Continued Working for Equality Until the Very End'
Feminist icon and activist Gloria Steinem has died aged 92.
Sept. 3 2026, Published 7:53 a.m. ET
Feminist icon Gloria Steinem, who became one of the most famous faces of the women’s liberation movement, has died aged 92.
RadarOnline.com can reveal the journalist and activist passed away at her New York City home on Tuesday surrounded by her loved ones.
Steinem Died 'Peacefully' At New York City Home
Steinem was surrounded by loved ones when she passed.
Her death was announced on Wednesday via her official Instagram page.
The caption read: "Yesterday, Gloria Steinem passed away peacefully at her home in New York City, surrounded by some of the many who loved her.
"Gloria’s near-century on earth were years well-lived, and she continued working for equality until the very end."
The cause of her death has yet to be revealed.
Steinem spent decades fighting for women’s rights and became one of the most influential figures of second-wave feminism from the 1960s onwards.
Listening To Others Was 'Greatest Gift'
Steinem's team paid an emotional tribute to icon.
Her campaigning spanned reproductive rights, domestic violence prevention and gender inequality in the workplace.
Paying tribute to Steinem, her team said her ability to listen to others was her "greatest gift."
"Her words, actions, and example gave people permission to be their truest selves," the statement said.
"Gloria lived true to her independent spirit, always with curiosity and a great sense of humor.
"She spent her recent years doing the two things she loved most: being in community with others and writing. She has welcomed hundreds of guests into her living room for Talking Circles, a tradition she insisted will continue long after she is no longer with us.
"As Gloria wrote in her forthcoming book, An Unexpected Life, 'I have now lived for more than 50 years in this brownstone, in rooms that have witnessed lives before mine, and will know others after I am gone."
Medal Of Freedom Honor
Then-President Barack Obama handed Steinem top honor.
Before becoming a dedicated activist, her career originated in journalism, including a 1963 undercover assignment exposing degrading conditions in Hugh Hefner's Playboy empire—an effort she ultimately regretted.
Her focus shifted six years later during a meeting where women forcefully advocated for abortion rights.
Among other groups, she also created the Coalition of Labor Union Women, the Women's Media Center, Voters for Choice, and the Ms. Foundation for Women.
In 2013 then-President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest US civilian honor.
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The activist considered herself 'an entrepreneur of social change.'
"From reluctant spokesperson to a beacon of positive change, hers is a singular journey — an American leader who can speak to us all," film and theater director Julie Taymor said of Steinem in a 2017 New York Times interview.
Taymor directed the 2020 film The Glorias, depicting Steinem's life across the years and based on her 2015 best-selling autobiography My Life on the Road. She was also the subject of a 2018 play, Gloria: A Life, and a 2011 HBO documentary Gloria: In Her Own Words.
Steinem said she considered herself "an entrepreneur of social change."
"I want to do justice to the women I meet, to tell their stories," she told the New Yorker magazine in 2015. "It's making connections, and using myself to listen, because we can't empower women without listening to their stories."
