Behind the Scenes of Jessica Yellin’s Interview with Meghan, The Duchess of Sussex
The independent journalist on how Meghan is ‘helping people feel hopeful...and that progress is possible.’
Welcome to So Many Thoughts, a semi-weekly newsletter about royal style and the other parts of life I want to think through with you. You can subscribe here and follow me on Instagram at @EHolmes. Thank you!
In a week filled with doom scrolling, I wanted to share a bright spot: A conversation I had with Jessica Yellin about her recent interview with the Duchess of Sussex and Gloria Steinem.
Jessica is an award-winning journalist and founder of News Not Noise, delivering the top stories to her more than 600,000 Instagram followers. I was thrilled that Meghan and Gloria, a towering figure in the American feminist movement, chose Jessica to moderate their conversation following the Supreme Court’s decision to remove the federal constitutional right to an abortion.
“This is a blueprint for reversing rights,” Meghan said. “The ruling is a signal about the future of same-sex marriage, contraception access, and many fundamental rights to privacy. It feels like the tip of the iceberg and is part of why people feel so scared. We have to channel that fear into action.” You can read the trio’s full Q&A in Vogue and the News Not Noise newsletter.
As CNN’s former chief White House correspondent , Jessica has interviewed a host of public figures and world leaders. I was eager to get her behind-the-scenes perspective on what Meghan is bringing to this moment. You’ll find our chat below, along with some thoughts from me on the new photograph of the duchess that Archewell shared with Vogue.
Have a good weekend, friends.
PS: Click here to watch Jessica’s video interview with Mandana Dayani, chief operating officer of Archewell and founder of I Am A Voter.
Jessica Yellin on Meghan’s Activism
Jessica Yellin is the founder of News Not Noise. (Courtesy photo)
As my thoughts spiraled last Friday in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and eliminate abortion as a constitutional right, the Duchess of Sussex crossed my mind. To me, it wasn’t a question of if Meghan would enter this discussion, but rather when and how.
By Tuesday, I had my answer: Meghan discussed the verdict with Gloria Steinem in a conversation moderated by Jessica Yellin and published in Vogue. I first met Jessica back in 2008, when I was reporting on the presidential campaign for the Wall Street Journal. We reconnected recently at a dinner for Bulletin newsletter writers (you can subscribe to her News Not Noise Letter here).
I reached out to Jessica to learn more about how the interview came to be, what she thinks about Meghan entering into these important conversations, and what the future holds for the duchess.
Our conversation, below, has been lightly edited and condensed for clarity.
First of all, Jessica — congratulations! What a huge get.
Thank you, thank you. It was such a pleasure, as a journalist and a person who’s been a feminist my whole life.
Before we dive into your conversation with Meghan and Gloria, I would love for you to share more about News Not Noise and why you started it.
I spent years in traditional media and had this insight that there was a part of the audience we weren’t reaching. They cared about news, but the way we told the news turned them off—endless outrage, negativity, bombastic partisanship, and the focus on conflict over information and solutions. And I thought if we could tell the news differently, so many more people would be engaged and feel confident about talking about these issues and empowered to take action. That’s my commitment. I say, “I give you information, not a panic attack.”
And nobody understood. All the gatekeepers looked at me and, for one reason or another, couldn’t get on board for that. So I decided to just try it.
At the time I launched, Instagram was the place that had the least news. And it was the friendliest and it’s very woman-centric, so I thought I’d capture more women. I started News Not Noise before the 2018 midterms to help people understand politics, and it took off. I’ve built this community of people who care about issues, want to be informed, and are sick and tired of being manipulated by other forms of news. And they just want to know: What matters and what can I do about it?
(EH Note: You can read more about Jessica and News Not Noise in this Town & Country piece by Erin Geiger Smith)
How did your interview with Meghan and Gloria come about?
I had put in a request with Meghan’s team. It was a generous act by Meghan to spotlight an independent woman journalist.
What made you want to reach out?
I knew Meghan worked on women’s issues, I knew her history. I was a huge, huge fan of Princess Diana as a little kid. Every kind of merch or memorabilia, whatever my parents gave me for my allowance, [I spent it] on Princess Diana stuff. My room was filled with Lady Di growing up. And so when Prince Harry got engaged, I paid really close attention. I was intrigued when I’d read that [Meghan] had sent that letter as a kid about the dishwashing soap and then she’d given that speech to the UN. This is a person who was an actress, who didn’t need to be outspoken about stuff—she cared. I thought the fact that [Harry] had married a feminist was so interesting and cool.
When the decision came down [reversing Roe], I put in a request thinking [Meghan] would maybe have a comment on it. I said, “I’d love to focus on whatever part of this issue she thinks is a way forward.” And [her team] came back and said, “How about doing this conversation?”
The piece was first published in Vogue. How did the magazine get involved?
We pitched it and they took it. I wanted it on my platform and this was a way for it to also get international exposure.
Why did you want to format it as a Q&A rather than a written piece?
I asked for the Q&A format because it’s about their words. It’s about a conversation among women. There is this concern about the future and the way forward for people who care about reproductive rights and a piece of that is: Who will be leaders going forward? Who will rally young women and young men to understand what the issues are, understand what the possible actions are, and to really engage? Everybody is in this frozen moment where they’re still processing and digesting, but it occurs to me that this partnership could be part of what new leadership looks like.
If Meghan wants to be part of this movement, that’s really powerful. She has this reach and, like what Gloria Steinem said, this trust—an ability to talk not about politics, but to people in a way that engages them.
What do you think Meghan wants to work on?
She really wants to work on the Equal Rights Amendment [a proposed constitutional amendment to guarantee gender equality in the U.S. constitution]. That’s one of the paths forward and it’s an area where there’s so little knowledge and so great an opportunity to inform people. She could really move the needle.
I don’t know if you have this conversation with young women, but when I say, “We were never written into the constitution,” they look at me like, “That can’t be true.” It’s impossible to believe. And so using this platform to inform people in that way could be really meaningful.
I loved that this was a conversation with Gloria, too, who added so much in terms of context around the ERA and the fight over Roe.
That’s part of what was really cool about Meghan doing it this way. She spoke on this with one of the heroes of the women’s movement. I see it as a way to say, “I’m continuing this work and honoring your work and engaging [in] the work.” Young people today have to partner with people who’ve already been there and learned this stuff. And I think it was a way of modeling that.
Had you talked with Meghan before this conversation? What was your impression of her?
I had met her in passing once, but this is my first full conversation with her. She’s friendly and easy and flexible and open. I’ve interviewed people who are very formal and create rules and she had none of them.
What do you make of Meghan—and Harry—being a part of these important and timely conversations?
As somebody who’s followed politics and covered it for a long time, I think it’s impressive that they’ve decided to weigh in on these things when so many businesses or corporate entities or people in leadership positions choose not to because it might be safer for their profit margin or invite less criticism by saying nothing and doing nothing.
It seems to me that that’s just not even a possible option for who [Meghan and Harry] are. They feel the need to engage productively. And my sense is that, based on what I understand, she’s done a lot of work quietly and maybe what we’re seeing is an emergence of a more public advocacy.
I'm at a conference right now and people are talking about: What is the role of business and speaking up on issues? All these studies say the workforce expects them to take a stand, consumers expect them to take a stand. But many of these businesses are wary of taking a stand because of their board of directors or what it does to their bottom line.
In this context and in this moment, when there are so many existential stakes, I personally think it’s meaningful that people with their platform—and where they, honestly, could have something to lose—say: It’s more important that we speak up for what we believe in and help other people connect to resources and information that will help them create the world we all want.
It feels so notable given that the British Royal Family is known for staying out of politics.
Oh really?
Yes, the Queen and her descendants don’t vote or speak directly about political matters.
How interesting.
Now that the Sussexes have stepped down as senior working royals, they are free to be a part of these conversations. What sense did you get from Meghan about why she wanted to talk about the Supreme Court decision?
What I got is a sort of urgency, an urgency to help people find a way forward.
Her message is, over and over, about finding hope at a time when people who don’t agree with the court’s decision feel completely demoralized. My sense from our conversation is that she might see her contribution as helping people feel hopeful, feel that they can do something, that their contributions matter, and that progress is possible. I felt how important it was for her that we not only dwell on what’s awful, but also pivot to what’s possible.
That feels like a very royal approach, to lift spirits.
She sees herself as being able to help people connect or provide research or information or opportunity or education, to drive what’s possible. I think her big focus is getting out the vote and raising awareness about the ERA for now. Beyond that, I don’t know, but I got the sense that she could be stepping forward on some of this stuff more.
I appreciated how you both brought men into the conversation, with your question about their role in unwanted pregnancies and her comments on Harry being a feminist.
I mean, that’s the other thing. Why are we only talking about women? I think David Hogg from March For Our Lives posted something really smart on this, which is, “Why are we only saying, ‘Women should boycott sex until this is done. Or women should do…’ Wait, why aren’t men part of this conversation at all?” And I’d like to hear more people asking that and creating, not in a critical way, but creating the opening and the space for men to feel like they should step forward and this is their issue as well. And [Meghan] spoke to that.
I thought it was so smart and important to mention Harry’s reaction to the Supreme Court decision. She described it as “guttural.”
I said the prince married a feminist—but the prince is a feminist, too, so that’s cool.
What was your takeaway on Meghan’s plans going forward?
She’s committed to driving these issues and privately finding a space to lift up the work of women who are in the trenches doing this work—to help people see what’s out there, understand what it takes to get informed, and then take action.
What I sensed is she sees this as a moment to start stepping forward with her advocacy. [Harry and Meghan] have this massive platform and an opportunity to inform people through it.
Thank you, Jessica! Read her full interview with Meghan and Gloria Steinem over at News Not Noise.
But mostly: I wanted to share a few of my own thoughts on the picture that Archewell gave to Vogue to run with the piece (above). The new photograph of Meghan stopped my Instagram scroll on Tuesday afternoon. I haven’t seen this shot before, I thought, which prompted me to read the caption and learn about the interview.
It was the perfect scene-setter for the piece—and a world away from the last time we saw Meghan on the steps of St. Paul’s Cathedral for the Queen’s Jubilee, clad in head-to-toe Dior. In the new image, the duchess is perched with a laptop on her knees and papers strewn to one side. Her focused gaze is trained on the phone in one hand, the fingers of the other cover her mouth. Clad in linen pants and a dark top (both of which are unidentifiable, therefore no what-is-she-wearing shopping frenzy could ensue), she has her hair in a headband and ponytail. Nothing about the photograph feels arranged or staged. This is a picture of a woman at work, joining the fight. Rendered in black and white, it takes on an even more somber feel, the stark reality of the topic she is discussing.
As always, what Meghan said during the conversation matters most. But I kept the image in the back of my mind as I read the piece. The visual of where she was when she had this important conversation amplified the message of it—seeing is believing, just like the Queen says.
A quick programming note: I will not be publishing a newsletter next Tuesday. I’ll see you back in your inboxes on Friday.
The So Many Thoughts Newsletter comes out twice a week. You can subscribe and catch up on the archives here, including:
➡️ What Everyone In London Was Wearing
➡️ Thoughts on the New Cambridge Portrait from an Art Historian
➡️ My Interview with the Downton Abbey Costume Designer
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