Meghan Markle to Mindy Kaling: ‘I’m Sussex Now’

On the second episode of her Netflix show, With Love, Meghan, Meghan Markle’s celebrity guest was Mindy Kaling, one of her long-time friends. In one of their conversations, Markle corrected Kaling and mentioned she goes by “Sussex” now. 

Knowing her even before she married Prince Harry, Kaling referred to Markle’s surname she used when she was still an actress in one of their conversations about their childhoods. Kaling said, “People wouldn’t believe that Meghan Markle ate at Jack in the Box,” prompting Markle to correct her, “It’s so funny, too, that you keep saying ‘Meghan Markle.’ You know I’m Sussex now.” 

The Duchess of Sussex explained, “You have kids, and you go, ‘No, I share my name with my children. I didn’t know how meaningful that would be to me, but it just means so much to go, this is our family name, our little family name.” Kaling, now a mother to three kids of her own, said, “Now I know, and I love it,” per the New York Post. 

In an interview with People, Meghan shared how the name “Sussex” is “part of our love story.” After getting married in 2018, Queen Elizabeth bestowed upon the couple the name, making her and Harry, the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. Now that she’s a mother to Archie and Lilibeth (who now go by the names Prince Archie of Sussex and Princess Lilibet of Sussex, after Queen Elizabeth’s death), she recognized the importance of their shared name. 

“It’s our shared name as a family, and I guess I hadn’t recognized how meaningful that would be to me until we had children. I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H, and I all have together. It means a lot to me.” 

Meghan also discussed the controversies surrounding her lifestyle brand, As Ever, including a trademark dispute with a clothing brand that has the same name, and a plagiarism issue over the brand’s logo that had similarities with the emblem of a municipality in Spain.  

She said, “There are tons of twists and turns — even with the name. I was figuring it out in real time.” She added, “I appreciate everyone who gave me the grace to make mistakes and figure it out and also to be forgiving with myself through that. It’s a learning curve.”