Mindy Kaling Talks Work Ethic, Turning 35 & Family In ‘FLARE’

We’ve always been intrigued by Mindy Kaling (real name Vera Mindy Chokalingam). Like her FLARE cover states, she simply is a boss in this TV game. In the October cover story the actress, comedian, writer, and producer best known for portraying Kelly Kapoor on The Office (and now creating and starring in sitcom The Mindy Project), chats about her upbringing, killer work ethic and the fact that she’s 35 and still wants to push out three babies. Check out a few excerpts. 

On being self confident: 

Of course I’m riddled with doubts like every other creative, neurotic person, but if you don’t display them all the time, you’re seen as overconfident. I’ve worked in television for 10 years straight. If I were a man, it wouldn’t be considered strange [to have confidence] at all.

On her parents giving her a killer work ethic:

Maybe because they worked so back-breakingly hard for so long, and travelled so many continents to get here for me, I think they thought, You can do anything! I’m not going to travel any continents or anything, but in my career, well, maybe I can do anything.

On the family dynamics in her home:

I come from a family where my parents were madly in love with each other, but we were one of these loud, ethnic families. It would always seem like everyone was screaming, but there never was that peril that anyone was not going to get along. Friends would come over and they would be like, ‘Oh, you’re war-torn,’ and I would be like, ‘No, this is just how we interact.’

On wishing her mother, who died in 2012 of pancreatic cancer, could see Mindy: 

She would love the clothes so much…I had zero rebellion against my mother. I was terrified of her, and I thought she was very glamorous, and I just wanted to emulate her all the time.

On turning 35:

Though this has been the first year I realized that if I want to have three kids, I need to get going…In my 20s, I was not only boy crazy, but marriage and relationship crazy. Now it’s almost the opposite. My work is so rewarding and I’m so self-centered about it that I’m kind of excited about not having to go home and ask someone about their day.

Click here to read the full interview.

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