When Meghan Markle signed on to guest edit the September issue of British Vogue, she decided to select 15 women - or 'faces of change', as she described them - to share the cover.
Trans actor and activist Laverne Cox, beloved for her breakout role in Netflix series Orange Is The New Black, was one of them - unbeknown to her.
In an interview with People, Cox has now revealed that she learned of Markle's decision via a surprise phone call from the Duchess of Sussex herself.
“I did not find that out until last week," she explained.
"[Editor-in-chief] Edward Enninful called me at 9:30 in the morning and he’s like, ‘I have someone on the phone for you,’ and it was the Duchess of Sussex.
“She was so lovely… she just thanked me for being an inspiration and to keep it up.”
Cox continued, revealing that the pair chatted about Markle's previous role on US TV series Suits.
“I did tell her I had been a fan of Suits since the beginning - I had been a fan of hers since then. I just loved her on the show. She just said, ‘Awww.’ She seemed surprised.”
Taking to Instagram to share the cover, Cox wrote: “I assert daily that trans is beautiful. I am so blessed that as an artist my job is to highlight and celebrate everyone’s beautiful and imperfect humanity.
“We must not forget our shared humanity as we interact with each other, implement public policies, vote for elected officials. Even when we disagree we must still acknowledge each other’s humanity," she added.
“We must not continue to allow the tactics of divide and conquer, dehumanisation to keep us from each other. Divide and conquer only serves those already in power.”
Cox is the first openly trans person to appear on the cover of British Vogue, walking in the footsteps of Brazilian model Valentina Sampaio who appeared in Vogue Paris back in 2017.
