Mindy Kaling Addresses Rumor B.J. Novak Fathered Her Children: 'Doesn't Bother Me'

Mindy Kaling isn't letting paternity speculation get under her skin. The actress is addressing some long-standing rumors about the identity of her kids' father.

Kaling, 43, recently spoke with Marie Claire and addressed speculation that her former boyfriend and longtime best friend B.J. Novak is the father of her two children.

"It doesn’t bother me," said Kaling -- who is the mom to 4-year-old daughter Katherine and 1-year-old son, Spencer. "He's the godparent to both my kids -- and they have such a great relationship."

Kaling added that the rumors, thus far, haven't "affected my happiness at all, it hasn't affected my kids or B.J."

"If that's what is going to be titillating to people, I'll take it," she added.

The Office alums and friendly exes dated on and off for many years, and have always maintained a loving friendship and close bond since their split.

However, Kaling takes her family's privacy very seriously and told Marie Claire that she doesn't plan on sharing pics of her kids -- or at least their faces -- on social media, and she won't speak out about their conception until they're old enough to learn the story themselves.

"I want them to be old enough to talk to me about it and [tell me] how they want me to talk about it," she said. "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."

Kaling spoke with Good Housekeeping in May 2019, and addressed her decision to have Novak be the godparent to her daughter, sharing, "The truth is that B.J. is so much more like family now than a platonic friend."

"He comes over like once a week. Sometimes he’ll come over just to hang out with her," she added.

Admitting that from other people's perspectives hers and Novak's relationship could seem a little peculiar, she says, "If I was on the outside looking at it, I would think the same thing." However, she stresses that Novak is "a real staple in my household."

"When you’ve known someone for as long as I’ve known him -- the time that we met each other, which was like 24. Now, we’re both almost 40. It's such a long time that he truly is just a part of my family," Kaling shared.

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