Originally appeared on E! Online
Mindy Kaling has a lot of questions. Number one, how dare you?
Or at least, she said something to that effect in response to rumors that she and her longtime BFF — and former boyfriend — B.J. Novak had a falling out. After celebrity gossip account DeuxMoi shared a blind item suggesting the “Office” alums had agreed to put “some distance” between them, Kaling was quick to set the record straight.
Seeming to make light of the situation, the 44-year-old commented on the March 23 post, “Omg I haaate him so much.”
In fact, in the years since their split in the mid-aughts — during which they worked together as writers and actors on “The Office” — the pair have proven time and time again how much they “haaate” each other.
Amid the many moments in which the duo have gushed over the other, one of the biggest indicators of how deep their bond really goes was Kaling’s decision to appoint Novak godfather to her two children, daughter Katherine, 6, and son Spencer, 3. And while the “Sex Lives of College Girls” creator has kept the identity of the children’s father a secret, the move has prompted many online to speculate that Novak is their father.
Mindy Kaling’s Most Candid Quotes on Motherhood
Speculation that — much like rumors of a falling out — both parties have simply allowed to roll off their back over the years.
“It doesn’t bother me,” the “Mindy Project” star told Marie Claire in August 2022. “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.”
And while there are those “Office” fans who have hoped that a romantic spark might rekindle between the pair, Kaling has been clear about why the pair work so well as friends — and nothing more.
“He is a wonderful friend and he’s godparent of both of my kids and he loves children and they’re so attached to him,” she told Drew Barrymore in December of the same year. “He’s really a part of our family. But we’ve known each other for a long, long time.”
Kaling continued, “I think anyone who’s been friends with someone for 18, 19 years and at one point dated and now doesn’t, they maybe understand this.”
