Meghan Markle faced an uncomfortable on-screen exchange during the newly released second season of her Netflix series With Love, Meghan.
In the Weekend Away episode, the Duchess of Sussex and her friend Heather Dorak took part in a cocktail-making class with mixologist Payman Bahmani-Bailey.
During the session, Meghan asked how he became a mixologist, and Bahmani-Bailey replied that he had once worked as a lawyer in New York.
Meghan asked if he had ever watched Suits, the legal drama in which she portrayed paralegal Rachel Zane for seven seasons. His response, however, caught her off guard.
“No, no, I don’t watch basic cable,” he said, adding that he preferred shows “with curse words and stuff.”
Meghan chuckled at the remark, saying, “Great, I love it,” before moving the conversation forward.
The Duchess starred in Suits from 2011 until 2018, leaving the show shortly before her marriage to Prince Harry. According to royal biographer Tom Bower, Meghan had previously struggled with public perceptions of her character, and at times asked producers to alter storylines she feared might affect her reputation.
Away from her television career, Meghan also used the launch of her show’s second season to address ongoing speculation over her surname. Speaking in an interview with Bloomberg journalist Emily Chang, she clarified how she and her family use their titles.
The issue first arose in season one of With Love, Meghan, when actress Mindy Kaling referred to her as “Meghan Markle.” Meghan corrected her, saying she now went by ‘Meghan Sussex’.
The comment drew criticism from some royal watchers, who argued she could not adopt Sussex as a surname.
In her latest interview, Meghan acknowledged the debate. “My legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex, but Sussex for us works as our family name and it’s the name we share with our children,” she explained.
She added that while the title is technically not a surname, it has become the identifier for her household since her marriage to Prince Harry. Their children, Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, also use Sussex informally as a family name.
“When I got married, I changed my name, but it’s a complicated one for people to understand because our last name is not typical in that construct,” Meghan said. “It sounds silly to say, because I went there and I’m American, and then you come back and as an American you go, ‘I’m so confused.’ But it’s a dukedom.”