Mindy Kaling has dismissed speculation that her The Office co-star BJ Novak is the father of her children.
The Mindy Project star, 43, has two children; daughter Katherine, who was born in December 2017, and son Spencer, who was born in September 2020.
However, she prefers to keep the paternity of her children private and said in 2019 that she would not “talk to anyone else about it” until she can have a conversation with her daughter about it.
In a new interview with Marie Claire, published Tuesday (9 August), Kaling was asked about rumours that Novak, whom she is close friends with, was her children’s father.
She told the magazine: “It doesn’t bother me. [Novak] is the godparent to both my kids – and they have such a great relationship – and so far [the rumours haven’t] affected my happiness at all, it hasn’t affected my kids or BJ.
“If that’s what is going to be titillating to people, I’ll take it,” she added.
Explaining why she has kept their children’s paternity under wraps, Kaling said: “I want them to be old enough to talk to me about it and [tell me] how they want me to talk about it.
“I’m the only parent my kids have. I think I err on the side of super cautious so that there’s less things they can potentially be mad at me about down the line.”
When the time comes, Kaling added that she would be happy to speak publicly or write a book with Katherine about how their family came to be.
Kaling is known for being protective of her children’s privacy and rarely posts photographs of them or shows their faces on social media.
She revealed that she had secretly been pregnant and given birth to her son midway through the Covid lockdown during an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Elsewhere in the interview with Marie Claire, the Never Have I Ever creator said that she hasn’t “ruled out romance” as a single mother with two children.
“Culture largely says, ‘We don’t wanna hear about you. Your entire deal bums everyone out’. If you’re a 42-year-old [single] woman with kids, it makes people sad,” she said.
“I’m like, ‘There is hope for us. There could be great stories about women, like me, finding love, finding happiness…’ I can’t imagine anyone besides me would write it, so I have to find the time to do that.”
