Meghan Markle tells Gloria Steinem she's glad to be in LA 'for so many reasons'

Meghan Markle has said she is glad to be home in California “for so many reasons” as she sat down with activist Gloria Steinem to discuss the importance of voting.

Meghan, 39, joined Yahoo’s Makers series to speak to Steinem in a relaxed back garden chat, a preview clip of which was shared across social media on 25 August.

Steinem welcomed Meghan back to the US, and said she was glad the actor was home.

Meghan responded: “Me, too, for so many reasons.”

The pair spoke about voting ahead of the US election. Meghan has been taking part in a series of events over the last few weeks to encourage people to vote in the November presidential ballot.

Though the events have been non-partisan, Meghan has previously spoken against Donald Trump, and called him “divisive” and “misogynistic”.

Royal Family members are not technically banned from voting, but they tend not to in order to remain politically neutral. Meghan revealed in one of her talks that Prince Harry, 35, had never voted.

Read more: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle wrote to Jeremy Corbyn before they left royal roles, book claims

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 11: Gloria Steinem attends The 2020 MAKERS Conference on February 11, 2020 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Rachel Murray/Getty Images for MAKERS)
Gloria Steinem at The 2020 MAKERS Conference in February in California. (Getty Images for MAKERS)

Meghan said: “People forget how hard women like you (Steinem) and so many others have fought for us just to be where we are right now.”

Steinem, 86, replied: “If you don’t vote you don’t exist, it is the only place we’re all equal, the voting booth.”

The author and activist said her work was “no sacrifice”.

“What worries me the most are young people, who I understand are the least likely to vote,” she said.

“I can understand the feeling that they don’t think they have an impact, and yet it’s more important for them to vote because they’re going to be alive long after I am.

“They’re going to be suffering the consequences… (but) movements are families, it’s no sacrifice.

“I get to do what I love and care about every day of my life, how great is that?”

Read more: Meghan Markle tells women: 'If you aren't voting, you're complicit'

Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex(L) arrives at the British High Commissioner residency in Johannesburg where she  will meet with Graca Machel, widow of former South African president Nelson Mandela, in Johannesburg, on October 2, 2019. - Prince Harry recalled the hounding of his late mother Diana to denounce media treatment of his wife Meghan Markle, as the couple launched legal action against a British tabloid for invasion of privacy. (Photo by Michele Spatari / AFP) (Photo by MICHELE SPATARI/AFP via Getty Images)
The Duchess of Sussex, here in South Africa in 2019, has been joining with organisations to promote the importance of voting. (Getty Images)

In the clip, Meghan and Harry’s two dogs Guy and Pula make an appearance as Steinem jokes that they want to be on camera.

Meghan adopted Guy, a beagle, while she was an actor, and she and Harry adopted Pula, a black labrador, together. His name was only revealed in Finding Freedom, the biography which was released earlier this month.

Steinem rose to prominence as a feminist activist in the 1960s and 1970s after publishing an article which was headlined ‘After Black Power, Women's Liberation’.

She had been politically active since her involvement in the 1952 presidential election, and categorises herself as a radical feminist.

Steinem has typically been associated with the Democrat party and supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election which Trump won.

Her life and work is portrayed in Mrs America, the BBC miniseries in which she is played by Rose Byrne.

The Daily Telegraph previously reported that Harry will not be joining any work to encourage voting, in order to keep a distance between the Royal Family and politics.