Drew Barrymore has become the first celebrity to fall in line and refer to the Duchess of Sussex as ‘Meghan Sussex’ after the former Suits star corrected Mindy Kaling when she called her Markle on her Netflix show.
Meghan, 43, is set to appear on Barrymore’s talk show in a segment airing in the US later today in which she offers look into her life with Prince Harry and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet.
But the trailer promoting Meghan’s appearance on the show saw Barrymore, 50, drop the Duchess’ maiden surname Markle and instead call her ‘Meghan Sussex’.
This is the first time that the former Suits actress has been publicly introduced with her royal title as her surname and comes after she was seen correcting Kaling for calling her ‘Meghan Markle’ in her new Netflix lifestyle show.
Archie and Lilibet also use Sussex as their last name, a tradition common in the royal family. Their father Prince Harry was known as ‘Harry Wales’ while in school and in the Army, assuming the then-title of his father as his last name.
Harry and Meghan were bestowed the Sussex title by the late Queen Elizabeth II on their wedding day in 2018.
But despite no longer being working royals, and the pair being told they were told they were to no longer use their HRH titles, they have now fashioned Sussex as their family name.
Drew Barrymore has become the first celebrity to refer to Meghan Markle by the moniker ‘Meghan Sussex’. Meghan says that she and Prince Harry have adopted Sussex as their new ‘family name’
Meghan, 43, is set to appear on Barrymore’s talk show in a segment airing today in which she offers look into her life with Prince Harry and their children Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet
Harry and Meghan (pictured together in her new Netflix series Love, Meghan) were bestowed the Sussex title by the late Queen Elizabeth II on their wedding day in 2018. But despite no longer being working royals, they have fashioned Sussex as their new family name
Meghan describes the Sussex name as being a ‘huge part’ of her and Harry’s ‘love story’. She also suspects that it will be meaningful to Archie and Lilibet as they age.
‘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,’ Meghan told People Magazine. ‘I love that that is something that Archie, Lili, H and I all have together. It means a lot to me.’
‘I think as the kids get older, they’re so excited about, “Oh my gosh, Mama and Papa, how did you meet?” I think that will come with time as they get older, but for right now a huge part of our love story is that we share the name Sussex,’ she told People.
Barrymore introducing the Duchess as Meghan Sussex comes after she was seen correcting her celebrity friend Mindy Kaling for calling her Meghan Markle in her new Netflix cookery show.
In episode two of With Love, Meghan, which was released on Tuesday, the former royal, 43, was joined by Mindy, 45, as she shows her fellow mother how to host a children’s party.
As Meghan carefully demonstrated how to assemble a cucumber sandwich, the pair spoke about their favorite fast food growing up. The Duchess of Sussex called herself a ‘latchkey kid’ who ‘grew up with a lot of fast food and TV tray dinners’, listing off US chains Pollo Loco, Taco Bell and Jack In The Box.
But Mindy seemed to get under Meghan’s skin with her response, as she said: ‘I don’t think anyone in the world knows that Meghan Markle has eaten Jack In The Box and loves it.’
Trying to hide her frown with a smile, she replied: ‘It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now.’
As Mindy looked confused, Meghan, who has only visited Sussex once, continued: ‘You have kids and you go “No, I share my name with my children.” I didn’t know how meaningful it would be to me but it just means so much to go “This is OUR family name. Our little family name”.
The Duchess’s insistence on using her title as a surname has caused a stir among royal fans, with many questioning her decision to adopt ‘Sussex’ as her family name, despite the couple’s limited connection to the county.
One royal fan mused: ‘Her name is NOT Meghan Sussex. Her name is technically Rachel Mountbatten-Windsor. Sussex is a county in England & part of a courtesy title-NOT her last name.’
Another added: ‘Meghan Markle married Henry Mountbatten Windsor not Harry Sussex! She’s a delusional woman.’
While a third was shocked at how Meghan had hit out at her friend: ‘So who criticizes a guest like that? And her last name is not Sussex. Wouldn’t it be Mountbatten-Windsor?’
Barrymore introducing the Duchess as Meghan Sussex comes after she was seen correcting her celebrity friend Mindy Kaling for calling her Meghan Markle in her new Netflix cookery show Love, Meghan
‘It’s so funny you keep saying Meghan Markle, you know I’m Sussex now,’ Meghan told Mindy, who looked confused. ‘You have kids and you go “No, I share my name with my children”‘
The Drew Barrymore Show Instagram page announced Meghan’s appearance on Wednesday, writing: ‘@meghan on being a working mom & her new show, ‘With Love, Meghan.’ Tune in Thursday (3/6) for more!’
In the preview, Montecito-based Meghan told host Barrymore about her parenting style, noting that she adopts the approach to night time reading because her children, Archie and Lilbet, are just five and three.
Meghan told the 50 First Dates actress: ‘I always make it a point when I’m travelling if I can’t do bedtime stories with my kids, because Archie and Lili are just three and five, so I’ll always pack a really thin book and I’ll video tape myself reading it’.
She added that by doing so, her husband, Prince Harry, can pull out the recording and show it to their children before bedtime.
Meghan added: ‘Papa can say, “Here’s mama reading your bedtime story”.’
She continued: ‘You find ways to show up for each other, and that’s the one thing I can convey through the show, or through As Ever as a brand, I want people to know you can show up for each other because you know how good it feels when someone shows up for you.’
Meghan’s segment on the show, which aims to bring heartfelt conversations with special guests, will run on Thursday to promote her series With Love, Meghan.
Meghan Markle’s With Love show has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers, falling behind wrestling and sitcoms on Netflix’s chart.
The delayed lifestyle series was slammed by critics yesterday after its premiere as ‘gormless lifestyle filler’ with a ‘tangible desperation’.
It currently sits at number six on the streaming channel’s top 10 behind Kate Hudson’s basketball comedy series Running Point and WWE.
Hollywood bible magazine Variety panned the Duchess of Sussex’s series as ‘a Montecito ego trip not worth taking’ in a no holds barred review.
‘The show plays out like a forced march, one in which Meghan’s guests must, as the price of getting to share an afternoon in a made-for-TV kitchen with her, praise her first,’ they wrote.
‘”With Love, Meghan” is made with a great deal of love — in the sense that the greatest love of all is the one that a person has for herself.’
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 ratings from viewers on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes.
A scathing one star reviewer quipped: ‘This isn’t even a fun hate watch. It’s just bad.’
A fellow low scorer said watching With Love was the ‘worst few minutes of my life’.
Previously sympathetic left-leaning publications such as the Guardian have warned this could be the last show Meghan and her husband Prince Harry ever make for Netflix if it is not a ratings success – describing it as ‘pointless’.
Marina Hyde wrote: ‘The mildest way to describe this show is as a ghastly artefact of a particular cultural era that recently met its apocalypse. This show is sensationally absurd and trite, and if you watch it, you know it.’
In the Radio Times, columnist Caroline Frost cast doubt on claims in the Netflix blurb that Meghan would ‘reimagine the genre of lifestyle programming’ with her series.
She wrote: ‘This isn’t the most offensive TV show in the world, and useful for those who need to know how to pour Epsom salts into a jar, pour boiling water over pasta and daisies on a plate, but Brooklyn Beckham needn’t worry about giving up his chef’s hat just yet’.
Anita Singh, the Telegraph’s arts and entertainment editor, gave the show a two-star review and said it was an ‘exercise in narcissism, filled with extravagant brunches, celebrity pals and business plugs’
She wrote: ‘The format is this: Meghan invites people to her pretend house – the show is filmed in an $8million farmhouse down the road from her $14million home – and they tell her how amazing she is. This happens for eight episodes’.
Katie Rosseinsky, senior culture and lifestyle writer at The Independent, gave the show a one-star review and said it was ‘queasy and exhausting’.
Meghan Markle ‘s With Love show has a lowly 11 per cent rating from viewers with it behind wrestling and sitcoms on Netflix ‘s chart
Meghan pictured with Prince Harry who makes a fleeting appearance in his wife’s lifestyle series
The series has a lowly 11 per cent rating from more than 250 ratings from viewers on reviews site Rotten Tomatoes
Meghan’s segment on The Drew Barrymore Show, which aims to bring heartfelt conversations with special guests, will run on Thursday to promote her series With Love, Meghan
In the trailer, Meghan (pictured with Lilibet in an Instagram story) told host Barrymore about her parenting style, noting that she adopts the approach to night time reading because her children, Archie and Lilbet, are just five and three
Meghan teased her appearance on Drew’s show on her Instagram Stories – as she revealed that she ‘filmed something fun in the city today’.
Taking to Instagram, she shared a clip of her walking in a hallway from behind while dressed in a pair of wide-leg trousers and a simple white vest, which was the same outfit she wore on the show, with the words: ‘Filmed something fun in the city today’.
Elsewhere, the mother-of-two also shared a new photograph with her close friend and social activist Gloria Steinem, writing: ‘And a quick hug @gloriasteinam’, alongside a sweet photograph of them together.
The pair first struck up a close relationship when the Duke and Duchess of Sussex first left the UK for Montecito, California, in 2020, having bonded over their shared interest in promoting women’s rights and equal voting rights ahead of the Presidential Election that year.
In recent times, Steinem, best known for her role within the Women’s Liberation Movement in the 1960s and 1970s, has been full of praise for the Duchess, telling Access in 2020 that Meghan was ‘smart, authentic, funny, political’ and claiming: ‘She came home to vote.’
Meghan and Gloria’s friendship blossomed when the pair sat down together to film a video on the Makers Women channel in 2020, discussing women’s rights and voting rights after learning they only lived 45 minutes away.
The mother-of-two teased her appearance on the program Tuesday on her Instagram Stories – as she revealed that she ‘filmed something fun in the city today’
Meghan told Drew that she wants her new Netflix show to encourage viewers to ‘show up’ for their close friends and family
When the conversation kicked off, Meghan praised Gloria for her decades of work in advancing women’s rights, saying that ‘people forget’ the hard work activists like Gloria put in to improve the lives of future generations of women.
The pair’s friendship appears to have gone from strength to strength, with Meghan warmly embracing the activist in her latest Instagram post.
Elsewhere in the post, Meghan shared a photograph and messages with a long term supporter called Emily. Meghan wrote: ‘Full circle for Emily. I’m so happy for all The Tig supporter group followers. Emily has been a long-term follower of my page.
‘They’ve been in contact for the first time since 2011 but met for the first time in 2016,’ she added.
In the screenshot, Emily, who was a follower of Meghan’s now defunct lifestyle blog The Tig, said she was ‘pinching herself’ after unexpectedly meeting the duchess at a With Love, Meghan event at Soho House, New York.
The 43-year-old also shared a photograph of her As Ever produce, including a Raspberry Spread, which will soon be available for the public to purchase.
The final Instagram story saw Meghan post a billboard advertisement for her show in Times Square.
Meghan took to Instagram to share an image with her close friend and social activist Gloria Steinem on Tuesday (pictured)
The 43-year-old shared a preview of the As Ever raspberry spread, which will soon be available for the public to purchase
Meghan shared her messages with a loyal supporter called Emily, who has followed the former Suits actress since 2011
Meghan is also back on the blogging scene – as she released a lengthy letter to subscribers of her new As Ever website on Tuesday morning that referenced her growth over the years and the many hats that she’s worn in her life.
Off the heels of her eight-episode series premiere on Netflix, Meghan opened up the website for her lifestyle brand to the public, sharing what was coming soon to the product line.
However, before you could click on each individual item, which included raspberry spread in ‘keepsake packaging’ and a limited-edition wildflower honey, website visitors were encouraged to share their email to subscribe to the brand’s messages.
And, once signed up, a note from the Duchess came through to your email, with a subject line that read, ‘Welcome to As Ever.’
Meghan began the email: ‘I am so happy to have you join me on this adventure. Some of you will remember receiving newsletters similar to this one back in 2014, when I founded The Tig,’ Prince Harry’s wife began, referencing her now-defunct lifestyle blog.
At the time, Meghan used to share her favourite recipes, travel guides, and fashion tips on the platform, which she shut down once she became a working British Royal Family member.
‘Though much has changed since then, so much has stayed the same,’ she continued. ‘I still dance in my kitchen, experiment with recipes, get my hands dirty in the garden, laugh with friends over way too many glasses of wine, and pivot from going out in a date night worthy dress to being cozy at home in sweats and a baseball cap.’
‘And on that note – it’s not lost on me that I’ve worn a lot of hats in my life (pun intended) but as with the ethos of this brand name, I know that in so many ways, I, like all of us, remain “as we’ve ever been,”‘ her email read.
In the second half of her note, the mother-of-two explained more about what she hopes for the brand.
‘That’s what As Ever means: as it’s always been; the same as always. With As Ever, I trust you’ll feel this in every beat of what we’ve created,’ Meghan penned.
‘It is a line of products designed to make your everyday moments memories, to turn a basic breakfast into a beautiful snapshot of your life and to be kind to yourself and create a space for grace when it doesn’t all go according to plan,’ she continued.
‘For me, it all started with jars of preserves I was canning with fruit I picked from my garden. It began, quite literally, with something sweet – and through every twist and turn as a founder, it has become something even sweeter.
Meghan pictured with Prince Harry who makes a fleeting appearance in his wife’s lifestyle series
‘They say you have to break a lot of eggs to make an omelet – and that is true. Sometimes they fall, sometimes they crack, and sometimes you don’t have enough eggs at all – but I will tell you this much: no matter how many eggs break in the process, you can still end up with a pretty great omelet.’
At the end of her email, the new Netflix star promised that there is much more to come from her brand.
‘Sometimes even better than you expected. There is so much more coming, and I can’t wait to share it with you,’ she concluded.
After a much-anticipated arrival, Meghan’s show finally made a splash on Netflix Tuesday, as she hosted many of her famous friends in her kitchen, including comedian Mindy Kaling and actress Abigail Spencer.
As Ever currently sits at number six on the streaming channel’s top 10 behind Kate Hudson’s basketball comedy series Running Point and WWE.
