Mindy Kaling Dishes on Love Life: I Don’t ‘Need’ a Partner
“The Office” writer and star, who is notoriously secretive about her relationships, has never been married and is currently raising three children on her own.
Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images
Mindy Kaling revealed that she doesn’t “need” a partner after reigniting rumors about her relationship status with actor B.J. Novak. Joining Dax Shepard’s Armchair Expert podcast, Kaling said that she does not feel obligated to fill the romantic gap in her life, although she’s still “open” to finding love.
Kaling, who is notoriously secretive about her relationships, has never been married and is currently raising three children on her own. She has not revealed who the father is, but Novak is the godfather.
“We all have those friends, male or female, where they don’t feel complete unless they have a partner,” Kaling told Shepard and his co-host Monica Padman. “And I’m not judgmental about that. Because I felt like I used to be that way. Something happened where I don’t need it, but I’m open to it.”
BEVERLY HILLS, CALIFORNIA - MARCH 02: B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling attend the 2025 Vanity Fair Oscar Party hosted by Radhika Jones at Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts on March 02, 2025 in Beverly Hills, California. (Photo by Taylor Hill/FilmMagic)
Taylor Hill/FilmMagic
“To be able to have a family that I made myself, and there’s just the four of us in our family,” she added. “I don’t have to compromise at all. I don’t have to run anything by anyone.”
Kaling’s The Office co-star and friend Novak, who dated on the series and in real life in the early 2000’s, have denied their romance despite their close relationship.
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“We are pretty inseparable best friends with a lot of chemistry ourselves, and we’re not dating,” Novak told Entertainment Weekly in 2013. “Whenever we date anyone else, I think there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship.”
In 2015, Kaling called their relationship “weird as hell.”
“He is not my boyfriend, but he is not my best friend,” she told E! News. “I guess you could describe our relationship as a ‘romantically charged camaraderie with loud arguments.’”
At her Hollywood Walk of Fame induction just last month, Novak praised the actor, calling her an “incredible mother of three.”
Los Angeles, CA. March 2, 2025: rMindy Kaling roaming on the red carpet at the 97th Academy Awards (Oscars) at the Dolby Theatre on March 2, 2025 in Los Angeles, CA. (Robert Gauthier / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
Robert Gauthier/Los Angeles Times via Getty Imag
Kaling returned the kudos, referring to Novak as an “important and integral part of my family.” At the Oscars on Sunday, the two were spotted together at the Vanity Fair after party.
But it seems as Kaling is shutting down those rumors once again.
“I don’t remember the last time I had a crush. I don’t have lust feelings,” she said on the podcast. “I know it might surprise people, but I love seeing my friends' marriages that work. I love my married couples. I love hanging out with my friends who are married couples. But I love my life so much.”
For more, listen to Mindy Kaling on The Last Laugh podcast.
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