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Did B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling Date? Inside Their Long and Complicated History
B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling‘s close and complex relationship has had fans wondering if they dated over the years. Life & Style looks at the pair’s long history together and if it ever involved romance.
Did B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling Date?
B.J. and Mindy dated on and off from 2004 through 2007 after meeting on the set of NBC’s The Office. In addition to starring as Ryan Howard and Kelly Kapoor on the beloved comedy, both were also writers on the show.
B.J. made a rare comment about their relationship in a September 2012 interview with Vulture, saying their off-screen romance was as complicated as their characters.
“No one, including us, ever really knew, ‘Is this dating? Is this not dating?’ We were never really dating, we were never really not dating. We didn’t know. No one knew. All you’d know for sure as that you’d always find one of us next to the other, even if we weren’t getting along,” the Massachusetts native explained.
“Sometimes viewers would ask, ‘Are Ryan and Kelly together right now, not together?’ It’s not even that I wouldn’t know. I thought the question was missing the point. Write whatever you want. So, Kelly needed a boyfriend this week, so Ryan goes on a date. Ryan and Kelly are getting engaged … I think it was sort of expressive of the relationship that we were in,” he revealed.
When asked if their characters’ split matched their own, B.J. stated, “In real life, I think we just essentially grew up and it became more of a transition.”
Mindy Kaling Admitted She and B.J. Novak ‘Fell in Love’
The Mindy Project star said she and B.J.’s close working relationship on The Office led to their romance. They were under a pressure cooker environment in the writer’s room during the show’s crucial season 1, “and kind of fell in love through doing that, and then dated on and off for a couple of years, and now we are just, like, best friends,” she told Vulture.
“Like, real best friends. It’s the kind of friendship you have when you are embedded with someone, that you can only get by putting in that insane amount of time with people,” Mindy added.
At the time of the interview in 2012, the Late Night star said she was single “and enjoying-slash-tolerating it.”
Mindy Kaling Revealed Her Heartbreak Over Her Split With B.J. Novak
“It was years and years ago that that breakup happened. I was so sad, not angry, sad,” she told Howard Stern in 2014.
“I love him, and I think he’s a great person, but I’m not holding a candle for B.J.,” Mindy added about seemingly not being interested in rekindling their romance.
B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling Continued to Attend Events as Each Others’ Dates Following Their Split
Despite their breakup, the best friends have hit numerous red carpet events as each other’s plus one.
Mindy brought B.J. as her date to the 2013 Met Gala, while the duo also hit up the 2018 Vanity Fair Oscars party. In 2025, the pair posed arm in arm at the same glamorous event.
Even more private life events brought the pair together. B.J. threw Mindy a 40th birthday party in June 2019, where fans noticed an Instagram photo of him gazing at her, which the actor posted to his account.
Mindy attended B.J.’s 40th birthday party in August 2019, where she was put in charge of the birthday cakes and the toast.
B.J. Novak Is the Godfather to Mindy Kaling’s Children
Mindy has three children but has never revealed who the father is. She gave birth to daughter Katherine Kaling in December 2017. Mindy welcomed son Spencer Kaling in September 2020 and rounded out her family with the birth of daughter Anne Kaling in February 2024.
“He’s very good with children. It comes very innately to him, you know, like being with children. So, he’s a great godfather,” Mindy told Entertainment Tonight in August 2022, about the important role B.J. had in her children’s lives.
What Has Mindy Kaling Said About Rumors B.J. Novak Is the Father of Her Children?
“It doesn’t bother me,” Mindy told Entertainment Tonight about the speculation. “He’s the godparent to both my kids — and they have such a great relationship.”
The Morning Show star said the gossip hadn’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.”
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