It frequently seems quite difficult for celebrities to keep anything about their personal lives a secret, even if they’re actually trying to. Rarely does a day go by when we aren’t updated on the who, what, when, where, why, and how of many aspects of their lives that we’d consider very personal, especially with regards to family and romantic relationships. But, this has not been the case for Mindy Kaling, who surprised fans twice by having her kids with little to no public fanfare. This has led to persistent rumors that Kaling’s children were fathered by her longtime buddy and fellow The Office cast member, B.J. Novak (who played Ryan), and now Kaling is opening up about those rumors and why she keeps much of her family life private.
What Did Mindy Kaling Say About Rumors That B.J. Novak Fathered Her Kids?
Whether you’re a diehard fan of Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak in general or of The Office, it’s really no secret why the rumors about him being the father of her two kids (Katherine, 4, and Spencer, who’ll be 2 in September) started. Not only did their characters have a somewhat tortured on/off romance on the hit NBC comedy, but Kaling and Novak briefly had their own on/off romance while working on the show, and have remained extremely committed friends in the years since. So, when Kaling announced the birth of her children, but not who their father was, many assumed it was Novak. About the rumors, Kaling recently told Marie Claire:
It doesn't bother me. He's the godparent to both my kids—and they have such a great relationship—and so far [the rumors 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.
Alright, people. I know how much you love juicy celeb stories about romantical things, but Kaling (whose Never Have I Ever will get one final season on Netflix) is telling us all, one more time, that Novak is her kids’ godfather and not a blood relative, OK? It’s good that none of the rumors have negatively affected Kaling, Novak, or her kids, and that’s probably due to them both being secure in their deep friendship, while also acknowledging people have questions about it, and that their friendship even sometimes seems weird to them.
While talking to Entertainment Weekly in 2013, Novak admitted that whenever either of them began dating someone, that person always had questions about their status as friends, noting “there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship.” Kaling (who would sometimes trick Novak on The Office), meanwhile, once told InStyle (via Us Weekly) that their relationship was “weird as hell” and “romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments.”
Kaling also noted that she hasn’t talked about her children’s father publicly because she wants them to get that information first, and 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 that they can potentially be mad at me about down the line.
When you think about it like that, it makes perfect sense that Mindy Kaling is keeping her kids’ birth stories private. Why shouldn’t they be the first to hear about it and then decide whether or not that information is discussed with all us nosy strangers? Whether or not we get those details at some point, at least we know that Kaling’s best bud B.J. Novak will be there for her family, no matter what.
