Meghan Markle was forced to laugh off a very awkward interaction during the newly-released second season of her show With Love, Meghan. 

During her ‘Weekend Away’ episode, the Duchess of Sussex and her friend Heather Dorak took part in a cocktail-making class with mixologist Payman Bahmani-Bailey.

While getting acquainted, Meghan, 44, casually inquired about Payman’s journey to becoming a mixologist. He shared that he was previously a lawyer in New York before turning to mixology.

Meghan perked up, asking him whether he watched Suits, the legal drama she starred in for seven seasons. 

‘No, no, I don’t watch basic cable,’ he brutally replied. 

All Meghan could do was chuckle as he explained: ‘I like shows with curse words and stuff.’  

Meghan Markle had to laugh off an awkward moment during the newly-released second season of her show With Love, Meghan. (Shown: Meghan with mixologist Payman Bahmani-Bailey)

‘Great, I love it!’ Meghan laughed.

Meghan portrayed ambitious paralegal Rachel Zane in Suits from 2011 to 2018, leaving the show shortly before her marriage to Prince Harry. 

It comes after a royal author claimed Meghan struggled to separate herself from her role and took criticism for her character as a personal attack.

Discussing her Suits role, biographer Tom Bower mentioned in his book, Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors: ‘At the forefront of her mind was how she was perceived.’

‘Convinced that she was on the cusp of international celebrity, she had become preoccupied with Rachel Zane’s character.’

‘She constantly absorbed [Suits creator] Aaron Korsh’s vision of Zane, a feisty opportunist with remarkable manipulative skills. Meghan was concerned that her portrayal in Suits as an ‘unfaithful woman’ might tarnish her own reputation.’

According to Bower, she asked Korsh to end the affair storyline as she was worried about ‘potential backlash’. 

‘Korsh agreed, aware that he was not only writing a good story but also Meghan’s real-life character and personality.’

When Meghan asked whether he watched her show Suits, Payman (left, with Heather Dorak) brutally replied: ‘No, no, I don’t watch basic cable’ 

All Meghan could do was chuckle as he explained: ‘I like shows with curse words and stuff’

Meghan played the ambitious paralegal Rachel Zane in Suits from 2011 until 2018, departing shortly before marrying Prince Harry. (Meghan is shown as her character in Suits)

Meanwhile, Meghan has finally addressed the controversy surrounding her last name after she insisted that she’s now called ‘Meghan Sussex’.

Speaking to Bloomberg journalist Emily Chang over smashed burgers and pints of beer in an interview released to promote the second season of her Netflix show, the Duchess was asked what her real, legal name is.

Meghan, 44, had first declared that her last name is now ‘Sussex’ when she corrected her celebrity friend and The Office star Mindy Kaling, who had referred to her as ‘Meghan Markle’ in season one of With Love, Meghan.

Her remark caused furore on social media, as Meghan is only believed to have visited the English county once and had no official surname as a member of the royal family.

Royal fans later insisted that her name is actually Mountbatten-Windsor – of which Meghan made no mention during her interview with Emily.

When Emily asked if Sussex is ‘a last name’, Meghan admitted ‘it’s not’ – but said she, her husband Prince Harry, and children Archie, six, and Lilibet, four, use the name Sussex ‘roughly or loosely’ as their surname.

She then clarified that her official legal name is Meghan, Duchess of Sussex.

She said: ‘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. Since I’ve been married, that’s what I’ve been called.

‘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.

‘It sounds so 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.’