View gallery

Mindy Kaling, 43, doesn’t pay much mind to rumors. The actress/writer and mother of two has kept the identity of her daughter Katherine, 4, and one-year-old son Spencer’s father private, but that hasn’t kept people from speculating. The star of The Office addressed one of the most persistent paternity theories in a new chat with Marie Claire, telling the magazine her longtime friend and ex-boyfriend B.J. Novak, 43 is definitely not the father, but is still someone dearly important to her family.

Asked if the speculation about her beau-turned-BFF got to her, Mindy said, “It doesn’t bother me. He’s the godparent to both my kids — and they have such a great relationship.”

She added that the gossip has had zero effect on her family, saying the chatter hasn’t “affected my happiness at all, it hasn’t affected my kids or B.J.” The Never Have I Ever creator went on to joke, “If that’s what is going to be titillating to people, I’ll take it.”

While Mindy and B.J. dated on-and-off for years, the actress said that these days, he’s more like a family member than just a pal. Talking to Good Housekeeping in 2019, she said,” 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 [Katherine].”

She admitted that the dynamic wasn’t traditional and she could see why people would get confusd. “If I was on the outside looking at it, I would think the same thing,” Mindy said, adding that Novak is “a real staple in my household.” She shared, “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.