Jim Thornton, the longtime announcer for Wheel of Fortune, has been fired by Sony.
“Following a thorough investigation, Jim Thornton’s employment with Wheel of Fortune has been terminated, effective immediately,” a company spokesperson said in a statement shared with The Hollywood Reporter.
He was suspended from the show on Tuesday, with the company sharing at the time that an investigation had been launched. “We have recently been made aware of allegations concerning Jim Thornton,” the company said in a statement to THR. “He has been suspended from Wheel of Fortune and we are recasting while we conduct a thorough investigation.”
TMZ reported on Thursday that he was suspended after alleged pedophilia chatroom photos prompted an investigation. The outlet published photos they alleged were screenshots of Thornton’s laptop that were taken by a passenger on an American Airlines flight in May from Charlotte to Los Angeles.
The passenger who took the photos told TMZ she saw images and texts that made it appear to be a chatroom for pedophiles; that same passenger notified a flight attendant about the alleged messages, sharing the photos with them. The captain reportedly notified the authorities and was questioned at LAX after the flight landed, but was free to leave, per TMZ.
THR has not vetted TMZ’s photos, and has reached out to the Los Angeles Airport Police Department for more details.
Thornton’s lawyer, Allison Hart, told TMZ that he had “become active in suicide-prevention advocacy since losing a close family member to suicide two years ago, and he has spent time visiting chat rooms offering support to individuals suffering from suicidal ideation.”
She said Thornton was provided with a link to a different chatroom, Lifeline.chat, from another member in the suicide prevention group. Lifeline.chat, per its website, “is a real-time support chat for people who are attracted to children.” Hart claimed that once Thornton realized what the chatroom was, he left.
Hart additionally said Lifeline.chat is “not unlawful, there is no unlawful child pornography or other pedophilic content, and my client never viewed, downloaded or consumed any child pornography whether on that commercial flight in May or at any other time.”
She also noted that he was never arrested or charged with a crime, and law enforcement determined no crime had occurred. “In short, my client did nothing wrong,” she said.
Thornton has served as the Wheel of Fortune announcer since 2011.
Prime Video/MGM+’s Spider-Noir starring Nicolas Cage has been canceled after one season, The Hollywood Reporter has confirmed.
The show, which features Cage in his first-ever regular TV role, debuted on the streamer in May with eight episodes. But despite positive reviews and receiving 11 Emmy nominations, it won’t return for a second season.
Here is the official logline: “Spider-Noir tells the story of Ben Reilly (Nicolas Cage), a seasoned, down-on-his-luck private investigator in 1930s New York, who is forced to grapple with his past life following a deeply personal tragedy, as the city’s one and only superhero.”
Lamorne Morris, Li Jun Li, Karen Rodriguez, Abraham Popoola, Jack Huston, Brendan Gleeson rounded out the cast. Guest stars included Lukas Haas, Cameron Britton, Cary Christopher, Michael Kostroff, Scott MacArthur, Joe Massingill, Whitney Rice, Amanda Schull, Andrew Caldwell, Amy Aquino, Andrew Robinson and Kai Caster.
Maggie Gyllenhaal has a history on the red carpet at the Venice Film Festival.
She made her first appearance on the Lido back in 2004 for the world premiere of Gregory Jacobs’ Criminal, in which she starred opposite John C. Reilly, Jonathan Tucker and Diego Luna. She followed it up a year later to support her brother, Jake, at the festival premiere of his Brokeback Mountain.
Gyllenhaal didn’t come back again until 2021, but then in a different capacity as a filmmaker by bringing the world premiere of her directorial debut, The Lost Daughter, starring Olivia Colman, Dakota Johnson, Jessie Buckley and her husband Peter Sarsgaard. She left as a winner as the film earned Gyllenhaal a prize for best screenplay.
“It was really seen in Venice, and it was really appreciated in Venice,” she told Vogue of the film’s reception here. “So I will always love Venice, aside from the fact that it’s an incredible city.”
After turning out another high-profile directing effort with last year’s The Bride, Venice welcomed Gyllenhaal back to the Lido to serve as president of the competition jury. She also has a project in Venice this year with her Marilyn Monroe-inspired advertorial short Flesh Impact, starring Johnson, Ellen Burstyn and Sarsgaard. The short film will screen out of competition later in the event.
During such a busy run here for Gyllenhaal, it’s prime time to take a look back at her high-profile red carpet outings in Venice, showings that include a lot of Miu Miu, a little Celine, a few black-and-white ensembles, some sharp tailoring and a few head-turning high jewelry accessories.
Gyllenhaal in an white dress at a red carpet for her brother Jake Gyllenhaal’s Brokeback Mountain on Sept. 2, 2005.
Justin Goff Photos/Getty Images
Gyllenhaal in Proenza Schouler white boucle crepe v-neck dress from the resort 2022 collection at the closing ceremony red carpet on Sept. 11, 2021.
(Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Gyllenhaal in a Prada navy blue velvet dress and contrasting white poplin sleeves at a red carpet for her film The Lost Daughter on Sept. 3, 2021.
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
Gyllenhaal in Schiaparelli fall 2020 at a photocall for The Lost Daughter on Sept. 3, 2021.
Alessandra Benedetti/Corbis/Getty Images
Gyllenhaal at the closing ceremony on Sept. 9, 2023.
(Photo by Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images)
Gyllenhaal in Miu Miu at a photocall for the Miu Miu Women’s Tales on Sept. 3, 2023.
(Photo by John Phillips/Getty Images)
Gyllenhaal in Miu Miu at a red carpet for Memory on Sept. 8, 2023.
Daniele Venturelli/WireImage
Gyllenhaal in Miu Miu at a Miu Miu Women’s Tales event on Aug. 30, 2025.
(Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images for Miu Miu)
Gyllenhaal in Miu Miu at a Miu Miu Women’s Tales photocall on Aug. 30, 2025.
Stefania D’Alessandro/WireImage
Gyllenhaal at the ‘The Future Of… Creativity’ hosted by Finch and Partners and CAA at Scuola Grande della Misericordia on Sept. 4, 2026.
(Photo by Victor Boyko/Getty Images for WDM ENTERTAINMENT )
Gyllenhaal in The Row at a jury photocall on Sept. 2, 2026.
(Photo by Vittorio Zunino Celotto/Getty Images)
Gyllenhaal in Celine arrives ahead of the 83rd Venice Film Festival on Sept. 1, 2026.
(Photo by Alessandro Levati/Getty Images)
Gyllenhaal in Celine with a Bvlgari high jewelry Serpenti necklace in pink gold, Serpenti viper two-coil ring set with full pavé diamonds in rose gold and Serpenti Viper earrings set with demi pavé diamonds in rose gold for opening night on Sept. 2, 2026.
You have heard that moving from the countryside to the city can be challenging? Well, you haven’t met Romero, an Indigenous man in Guatemala, yet! Now, you can – and go on an intimate cinematic journey with him in Nosotros. And you can experience how he navigates identity, class, and desire after moving from the highlands to the capital of Guatemala City.
Romero experiences much change in the restrained and atmospheric portrait of modern-day connection and belonging from Guatemalan producer Joaquín Ruano (Our Mothers) in his feature directorial debut. The film will have its world premiere on Sept. 12 in the Discovery program of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF).
After leaving his Indigenous family for work in Guatemala City, security guard Romero (Josef Coxaj) faces not only an unfamiliar environment, estrangement, loneliness and a “performative macho milieu,” explains a synopsis on the TIFF website. He falls for Nubia (Lola Vásquez), a transgender small business owner at the mall he patrols, “discovering an unexpected refuge and a new sense of self in a world not yet ready to make space for them.” Mayra Salvador also features in the cast.
The movie also touches on the lingering scars of Guatemala’s civil war. The press notes describe Nosotros as “an intimate portrait of two people finding connection within a society where racism, transphobia, economic inequality, and deeply entrenched ideas of masculinity determine whose lives – and whose desires – are allowed space.”
Ruano wrote and directed Nosotros, which features cinematography by Paolo Girón and editing by César Díaz. FiGa Films is handling sales.
THR can now exclusively premiere the trailer for Nosotros ahead of its TIFF world premiere. Whenever you are ready, follow Romero on his trip to the city and into his new job, his meeting with Nubia and the start of their tender journey together.
Director Victor Kossakovsky has developed a reputation for making us reevaluate how we think about human and more-than-human life. His emotional and tender Gunda (2020), about a pig and her piglets, was the first film in his “empathy trilogy.” Last year, his Trillion, a wordless documentary following an artist returning fish scales to the ocean in Norway, was a reference to the estimated number of fish taken from the world’s oceans by humans every year.
At the Venice Film Festival, Kossakovsky will world premiere, in a Venice Open – Out of Competition slot on Sept. 6, his new film, Holy Wood Dust, a cinematic invitation into the life and world of trees in collaboration with Italian botanist and author Stefano Mancuso – and an invitation to change our perspective.
“While art may be powerless to halt the conflicts unfolding around us and cannot stop the bullets of today, I believe that telling stories rooted in empathy can plant the seeds for a more peaceful future,” the Russian-born Kossakovsky says in a director’s statement on the Venice website.
“What happens to a stump the second after a tree is cut down? What does that tree think and feel at that very moment?” a synopsis for the film asks. “Holy Wood Dust is an invitation to radically reimagine the plant kingdom from a new, groundbreaking perspective.”
Holy Wood Dust comes from production companies Be Water Film, Solaria Film, RAI Cinema, Oceanika, Allegra Films and Doppelplusultra Filmproduktion. Be Water Film is handling Italian distribution, with RAI Cinema handling sales.
Director Kossakovsky co-wrote the film with Mancuso. Gianmarco Donaggio is the cinematographer, with editing handled by Ainara Vera.
Ahead of the film’s world premiere at Venice, THR talked to Kossakovsky about the inspiration for Holy Wood Dust, a scene that will remind cinema buffs of a Federico Fellini classic, and why he isn’t done with his “empathy” films.
Why did you want to make a film about trees?
When I was a kid, I walked with my mom, and I took one leaf from a bush, and my mom said: “Why did you do that?” And I said, “Oh, it’s beautiful.” And she said, “If we take out one of your hairs, do you feel pain?” So I said, “Yes, of course.” My mother said: “The bush feels the same. It feels pain. So don’t do that any longer.” This has stayed with me all my life.
Once I lived in Berlin, there was a brilliant autumn, and I picked up a dead leaf that had fallen off a tree. I broke it in front of a microscope, and I saw something unbelievable. You know what happens to us if you cut your finger? Blood is trying to heal and close the [wound], right? And that made me wonder: What if I looked through a microscope when they cut a tree? What would I see? Of course, it’s complicated, and you cannot bring a microscope to the forest. So, making a film [about this] was a challenge.
But we finally made it, and it really looks like War and Peace. You can see that this tree is totally confused [when things shown in the film happen to the region it stands in]. The tree has lived for 100 years, so what suddenly happened? I remember I was filming and shaking because it’s obvious that something bad happened to the tree, something horrible. It’s confused, suffering, trying to heal and trying to fight.
How did you end up collaborating on Holy Wood Dust with Stefano Mancuso?
My assistant was reading something from him during another project when we were on a boat in a storm. She told me, “You have to read this!” So, I started to read it and then had to buy more of his books, and then I wrote him. And a miracle happened. He wrote back to me in one minute: “I saw a few of your films, so I want to see you as well.” So, it happened by coincidence that we both needed each other. He is a visionary man. And 15 years ago, I started thinking about this film.
‘Holy Wood Dust’
Courtesy of Be Water Film
Did you always know it would be a film about fir trees?
I had a few different ideas, a few different characters. At first, it was supposed to be a film about linden trees [or basswood trees, as they are known in the U.S.]. They are very cinematic. They are like this. (He stretches his arms to the sides.)
With a Christmas tree, it’s just a vertical triangle, which is not cinematic, especially in the film format I like. I like the 2:1 aspect ratio, which makes things very difficult for a Christmas tree. But I said no, I need to find something to challenge myself with a tree, which doesn’t look good in this aspect ratio, and it needed to be something universal. And Christmas is, of course, something everyone is attached to emotionally. We kind of all connect to the idea of Christmas, and so I decided to make a film for kids and for families.
There is an iconic-feeling scene in Holy Wood Dust of a helicopter flying a Christmas tree towards the Vatican. Am I right to see that as a conscious reference to Federico Fellini’s La Dolce Vita, which has that famous scene of a helicopter above Rome transporting a statue of Jesus Christ to the Vatican?
I really wanted to say my thanks to Fellini because I remember the moment when I first saw one of his films. I was a teenager, and I saw 8½ in a very good cinema in Saint Petersburg. I remember when the film finished, people left, and I was alone, crying, and I wouldn’t stop. I was just crying, crying, and cleaning ladies came in and started to brush, and they looked at me and said, “Okay, cry, my friend, cry.” It was a full cinema, but I knew the film was for me. It felt like the screen was just for me, and the film stayed with me all my life.
‘Holy Wood Dust’
Courtesy of Be Water Film
There is also a powerful scene in the film where Stefano Mancuso and a group of kids discuss the importance and value of trees, which has surprising and impactful information.
Yes, [that was] important [because] we consider trees like decoration, right? I took [some experiences] with trees as a sign to do this film. It was like a tree was crying, asking me: “Victor, see it. Do it because no one understands. Everyone considers us as decoration. We are not. We are living beings.”
I find the title intriguing. Was Holy Wood Dust always the title for this film?
It is great, but I’m never happy with the working title. The working title was Tears for Fears.
Gunda and Trillion, both executive-produced by Joaquin Phoenix, were the first two films in what you have described as a trilogy on empathy. This film is different, as it isn’t wordless and black-and-white, but it still covers empathy. What’s your plan for the trilogy at this point?
There are going to be more, at least two more. But I can’t say more at this point.
‘Holy Wood Dust’
Courtesy of Be Water Film
What’s your hope for Holy Wood Dust once audiences see it?
I’m not saying, Don’t celebrate Christmas, don’t have a Christmas tree! I’m saying you can do whatever you want to do, but be aware that this is not decoration. The Christmas tree is a living being. It’s a live organism, which has 20 senses, and which can live, if you don’t cut it, for 500 years.
We have five senses. Plants have 20 senses, at least 20. Imagine that, and then you can do whatever you want. You can cut a tree, put it in your corner, and then you can throw it away. Just be aware that if you don’t cut it, it can live for 500 years.
But this film, I believe, kids will love, and families will love because, in a way, it’s a Christmas carol.
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Regardless of theme, each set includes 24 seasonal surprises — an assortment of mini builds and minifigures that can be treated as individual collectibles or characters in a larger scene. The Disney Princess calendar box, for example, transforms into a game board (with a buildable spinner) for up to eight players. More on each of the five offerings below:
Lego‘s 2026 Marvel Advent Calendar combines major Marvel superheroes (Spider-Man, Iron Man, etc.) with buildable accessories and holiday scenes.
Lego Marvel Advent Calendar 2026
317-piece building set; ages six and up.
The 2026 Star Wars Advent Calendar is fit for Mandalorian fans ages six and up, and filled with key characters, mini build vehicles and Lego Star Wars figures.
Lego ‘Star Wars: The Mandalorian’ Advent Calendar 2026
293-piece building set; ages six and up.
As for the Disney Princess Advent, play out favorite movie scenes with characters like Ariel, Sebastian, Cinderella and Moana.
Lego Disney Princess Advent Calendar 2026
290-piece building set; ages five and up.
Lego Friends is packed with a collection of mini dolls and mini animal figures plus winter toy accessories that help tell the story.
Lego Friends Advent Calendar 2026
211-piece building set; ages six and up.
Finally, the 2026 Lego City Advent Calendar is the ultimate Christmas-themed countdown. Santa, Mrs. Claus, elves and reindeer pair with a Santa Workshop play mat, revealed after folding out the calendar’s box.
Lego City Advent Calendar 2026
252-piece building set; ages five and up.
Shop the five seasonal sets, while supplies last, at both Macys.com and Lego.com.
In 1975, Norwegian film director and author Arnljot Berg (Bobby’s War, Closed Ward) was arrested in Paris and charged with the murder of his wife, Evelyne. Back then, his daughter, filmmaker Lene Berg (False Belief, Kopfkino), was nine years old. In 1982, the father died by suicide. Forty years later, the dramatic childhood experience is the starting point for her new film, The Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
The shoot for the movie, which moves between documentary, staged and fictional elements, is completed; the editing process is ongoing. And at this week’s Venice Gap-Financing Market, part of the Venice Film Festival, Berg will meet with potential backers to ensure she can wrap the film.
The hybrid film, produced by Ellen Ugelstad of Twentyone Pictures, dives into such themes as childhood trauma, family, guilt, memory and narratives. Berg herself appears in The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, with Ane Dahl Torp portraying her alter ego in the film, while Olav Waastad appears as her late father.
Produced by Norway’s Twentyone Pictures, in co-production with Sweden’s Story and Germany’s Alma Bäng, and Maria Ekerhovd from Mer Film, the film is supported by the Eurimage, Norwegian Film Institute, the Swedish Film Institute, Oslo Filmfond, The Art Council Norway, ARTE, Fritt Ord, Viken Filmsenter and Amarcord.
Berg talked to THR about her unusual approach to The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, how it mirrors the challenges of trauma and memory, and her hopes for Venice.
I heard that you have done work in other art forms about your father and his story. Can you talk a little bit about that and why you wanted to now explore your family history in film form?
They are all linked in a way. When I started to work on this material, I knew from the start that I wanted it to be an exhibition and a novel and a feature. Actually, I wrote the first scenes for the feature, but then I had this huge exhibition in Bergen, so I had the opportunity to develop some of the ideas in that form. Then, I published the novel [From Father (Fra far)] because the publisher was enthusiastic, and now it was time for the feature. So that’s the [element] of a trilogy.
They overlap, but each part also has a [slightly] different focus. So, this is not a film adaptation. It’s a totally separate work in a way. For the people who have seen or have taken part in all of the parts, it will be interesting.
It sounds like the stories we tell or try to tell about ourselves and our position in the world are a theme you are exploring in The Horsemen of the Apocalypse. Does that sound right?
This is one fundamental question that I’ve also been working on in other projects – the problem of narratives, or how you construct a narrative of something that is very, very complicated. At the same time, I want to question the narrative. In this film, a lot of questions come together, with the story of my father’s arrest as the starting point. It’s very hard to find a way to tell this story within a conventional narrative.
I feel that you made yourself very vulnerable by making this film…
One part is, of course, very emotional, and it’s a very sad story. But I feel it’s also very comic, in a way. In the film, I have an alter ego, Ane Dahl Torp, and we’re trying to stage these scenes.
Lene Berg
Courtesy of Lene Berg
My father is also both a very charismatic, funny and interesting person, but also horrible. So, I really tried to make all this as rich as I could and create a film in three acts, so that you can follow it. But at the same time, it’s also totally broken.
I was going to ask if audiences can expect any protagonist, or even hero, in a film like this, and whether that’s you…
In a way, my alter ego is the total protagonist. I’m also in the film, but she kind of takes over more and more. It was a lot of fun to work with Ane. She promised me that she would play me better than I do, and then she did. A key idea for me was to make the film not only about me. Of course, it’s a very personal, very specific story, but the film is also about sharing this story with other people, including the crew and cast.
Given the complexity of the story, I expect The Horsemen of the Apocalypse won’t end tying the narrative up neatly and easily…
Yes, I hope that when you walk out, you will still think about all sorts of questions. It’s not all resolved at the end. I try to put many questions out there, and I hope that the complicated emotions don’t go away quickly. After [all,] the story is complicated. My father is complicated. I am complicated.
Has working on the film helped you come to terms with this family trauma to some degree?
In a way, you could say that. It was 40 years since my father died when I started this project, and in a way, I missed him a bit. Through the film, I’m kind of blowing new life into him.
Olav Waastad is an absolutely amazing actor, and he is playing my father in the film. He appears and just insists on being remembered, and otherwise, he just appears in memories.
I think that the idea of meeting my father as a grown-up and having lived a bit of life myself was one impulse for this. Of course, with the project, I was also opening up the wounds again, so it was very challenging too. Why do I have to think about this again? It’s been a long time!
Between documentary and fiction, how do you describe The Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
It moves between the two. It is all staged, except for documentary or authentic elements, such as documents and my father’s voice. Because he was a film director, he appeared on TV, and there are also excerpts from his movies in the film, because he appeared in his own films.
In the reenactment scenes, I am trying to instruct Ane, but at the same time not sure I want to do this movie. I’m a reluctant director in the film. It’s a little bit of a metaphor for the whole process. The crew members also have different roles. One is telling me to get on with it, while another is very supportive of my emotions. So, we are using a lot of different cinematic tools and elements.
‘The Horsemen of the Apocalypse’
Courtesy of Twentyone Pictures
Would you ever want it described as a film for true-crime fans?
We actually took “true crime” out of the descriptions because we don’t want people to be disappointed because it’s not really a true-crime documentary.
I would rather call it a tragic-comic story, or a personal drama. It’s very tragic, but I laughed a lot while shooting it, and still laugh while editing.
Where did you find the film title,The Horsemen of the Apocalypse?
The title may still change, but I like it. The phrase actually showed up in some of my father’s documents. He called all his enemies “the horsemen of the apocalypse.” When I looked into a definition, they are all things that threaten humanity in a way – death, illness, hunger, war. But there are different interpretations. I think they are the bearer of destruction, but also hope. The word “apocalypse” is very interesting etymologically. It actually doesn’t really mean the downfall. It’s really the moment before when you see everything clearly, but you can’t hold on to it.
The film is also a bit nostalgic. We have an old big tape recorder, and an old landline telephone, and a typewriter. Actually, our actor is too young – he had never spoken on a telephone. So, he asked: “How do you hold it and end the call? How do you hang up?” It was funny.
What’s the status of the film, and what do you hope for in Venice and beyond?
We’re looking for the gap financing, the final 130,000 euros ($151,000) or so that we need to finish the film. We are almost at the end of the editing process.
Once a film is done, I’m always hoping that people leave the theater and are engaged in what they saw, so that they will continue to discuss it. So, I hope that a film will live on in them. I cannot control how, but I’m really looking forward to showing this film to people. I’m hoping that it will find the right audience that needs it or wants it.
Welcome to The End of Times (El fin de los tiempos)! The Colombian film from Bibiana Rojas Gómez and Juan David Cárdenas Maldonado, mixing found footage and AI to explore trauma and depression and “politicize mental illness,” will world premiere in the competition lineup of the Venice Critics’ Week, an independent sidebar of the Venice Film Festival, on Sept. 10.
The co-directors also handled cinematography, with Cárdenas Maldonado writing the screenplay, and Rojas Gómez editing the movie. Split Screen is handling sales on The End of Times.
The ominous title likely makes you wonder what to expect. “Salomé searches through five decades of family footage for the reasons for her mother’s sadness,” reads a synopsis. “Trying to imagine different versions of her mother, Salomé finds out that all of them lead to depression and uneasiness in a context where it seems easier to conceive the end of the world than the end of capitalism.”
By using AI, she experiences first-hand how difficult it is to conceive of another version of the world, one in which her mother could find some kind of meaning.
“Our age has glorified technological utopia, and the latest version of this promise is artificial intelligence,” the creative duo behind The End of Times says in a directors’ statement. “Yet, like earlier technological novelties, the shine of progress is discreetly stained by ambition, exploitation and misery. Seen from the perspective of peripheral countries condemned to the dark side of development and turned into an impoverished labor force, AI exposes its shadiest aspects.”
‘The End of Times,’ courtesy of Bruma Cine
They have more to say: “Our film seeks to show how the achievements of civilization are also triumphs of barbarism – a barbarism that is currently the rule under contemporary capitalism, or neoliberalism, a system of generalized physical and emotional exhaustion. In these conditions, depression has become the most common disease, not merely as a psychiatric phenomenon but as a social response to current material, economic and political realities.”
Conclude Rojas Gómez and Cárdenas Maldonado: “This project is an initiative to politicize mental illness. When it seems impossible to conceive a better world, sadness becomes the most usual form of adaptation.”
If your interest is piqued, THR can premiere an exclusive trailer. And since the spooky and mysterious images and words say much more than we could ever tease, let’s go right to this trailer for The End of Times.
On a quiet Upper East Side street Thursday, an impromptu memorial for feminist icon Gloria Steinem began forming.
One by one, women walked up to Steinem’s longtime home and left bouquets of flowers and cards, often stopping in silence to take in the moment and the array of florals lining her gate. Most cards thanked Steinem for her life’s work, while others went on to call her a “hero to all women,” or cribbed one of her oft-attributed sayings writing, “Women need men like fish need bikes,” which Steinem popularized, but always cited Australian writer and educator Irina Dunna as the original author.
Flowers outside of Gloria Steinem’s home Thursday.
THR Staff
One letter under the gate read, “Humanity is more evolved, more informed and we’re given the opportunity to be seen and heard because of you.”
Steinem passed away at her longtime home Thursday at the age of 92, “surrounded by many who loved her,” according to her foundation. One of the most popular members of the feminist movement, Steinem is known for championing women’s rights, both in government, with the formation of the National Women’s Political Caucus, which she co-founded alongside Congresswoman Bella Abzug, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm and Betty Friedan, among many other causes, as well as in her pioneering feminist publication Ms. magazine.
In the 1990s, Steinem furthered her legacy by helping to establish Take Our Daughters to Work Day, to help broaden career possibilities for young women, and in 2005, she co-founded the Women’s Media Center, alongside Jane Fonda and Robin Morgan, to raise visibility of girls and women in the media.
Throughout her advocacy, Steinem’s home, which she moved into with a roommate in 1967 and remained in for the rest of her life, as she acquired two more floors, has played a prominent role. It was there that Steinem hosted her “talking circles,” in which she would gather groups of women to discuss politics, debate and discuss solutions to issues facing women across the world and delve into their personal lives, across the decades. The home will continue to be used for political gatherings after her death, according to The New York Times.
“Talking circles have always been — since people gathered around a campfire — a crucial life-giving community,” Steinem told the Times in 2025, after a circle that included actress Lupita Nyong’o, former professional soccer player Ashlyn Harris, businesswoman Jenna Lyons and more.
“My brain has not converted to A.I.,” she added, “We don’t experience empathy in the same way unless we are physically together.”
Lena Dunham, a friend of Steinem, reminisced in a post Thursday on one of several gatherings she had experienced at the late icon’s home.
“A few months ago, you welcomed a group of us into your home. You could not have felt more alive, more eternal, and the room took on a hush when you spoke, the same awed disbelief that I felt whenever you offered me the chance to spend time with you. You knew the effect you had and so you doled out jokes with ease, made us all laugh as if drinking mocktails next to you was the most natural thing in the world. It’s rare that I’ll ever be as delighted as when you said, “Philip Roth used to stand by a pile of his own novels at the bookstore with a pen, ready to sign them to any woman who looked his way. I had to avoid that bookstore!,” she wrote.
Among the small crowd gathering Thursday, Larz May, founder of a non-profit aimed at improving the next generation’s relationship with tech, traveled to her home to commemorate Steinem, who she called “an inspiration.” May began hosting her own talking circles inspired by Steinem and was also able to participate in a talking circle at Steinem’s home about technology.
“We got to walk through a time capsule in her basement, and to sit on her couches and see and know that this is a jewelry box of the most incredible humans in the world,” May said of her time in the home, adding that Steinem surprised them all by pulling out a pair of tap shoes, one of her little known former hobbies.
Rather than just flowers, May bent down to light a stick of incense at the gate, to pay homage to another one of Steinem’s oft-quoted sayings.
In an interview with Time magazine, Steinem once said, “People keep asking me … who I’m going to give my torch to, right? And I always say to them, I am not giving up my torch, thank you very much, I’m keeping my torch, and I’m using it to light other people’s torches, because the whole idea that there is only one torch is the problem.”
“I’m here to light a candle and literally and figuratively take Gloria’s life forward, and hope to light up the world,” May noted on Thursday. “I think one of the things that I learned from her was that it’s not about passing the torch, it’s about lighting it.”
