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Mindy Kaling’s Dating History: ‘The Office’ Star’s Former Boyfriends and Who She’s Seeing Now
While Mindy Kaling has been in the public eye ever since winning hearts as Kelly Kapoor on The Office starting in 2005, she has always remained deeply private when it comes to her dating life. Keep reading to find out who Mindy’s been romantically involved with over the years.
Who Has Mindy Kaling Dated?
Little is known about Mindy’s romantic history prior to her big break on the hit NBC sitcom. She developed a close friendship with costar and fellow The Office staff writer B.J. Novak, and the two dated on and off from 2005 through 2007.
Mindy’s next relationship was with American author and writer Benjamin Nugent, whom she dated from 2008 until 2012. He’s best known for his 2009 book, American Nerd: The Story of My People and Good Kids. The pair made a handful of appearances as a couple at parties and events but kept the details of how they met and why the split to themselves.
What Is Mindy Kaling and B.J. Novak’s Relationship Status?
The pair’s closeness has gone far beyond The Office. B.J. served as a consulting producer on the first season of her Fox sitcom The Mindy Project, which ran from 2012 through 2017, and popped up on show in guest appearances.
The two have walked many major red carpets together, including the 2017 Vanity Fair Oscars party, but have maintained that they are nothing more than the best of friends.
Mindy and B.J. used the “are they or aren’t they” romance questions as a punchline during the 2022 Emmys on September 12, where the two presented the award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Anthology Series or Movie.
The pair joked about how as writers on The Office, the show “would take up your whole life” to churn out 22 episodes per season. It left them with “no time for a social life,” as Mindy quipped, she and B.J. had “no choice but to form insanely complicated relationships.”
Both Mindy and B.J. have addressed the dating rumors over the years. “Whenever we date anyone else, I think there’s a period where the person is very skeptical of our friendship,” the actor told Entertainment Weekly in 2013. “‘Everyone seems to think you two might be a couple, and I don’t mean to get in the way. ‘Are you sure you’re not dating? Are you sure you’re not going to end up dating?’ It’s such a common thing to have that platonic best friend that becomes a little weird when you start dating someone.”
Who Is the Father of Mindy Kaling’s Children?
Mindy surprised fans with her 2017 pregnancy, as she wasn’t dating anyone publicly at the time. She gave birth to daughter Katherine Kaling on December 15 of that year. She later welcomed a son, Spencer Kaling, on September 6, 2020.
Mindy has never revealed who the biological father of either of her children is, but they have a hands-on godfather in B.J.
“He’s very good with children. It comes very innately to him, you know, like being with children,” the actress told Entertainment Tonight in August 2022, adding, “So he’s a great godfather.”
She then addressed longstanding fan rumors that B.J. is the biological father of her children. “It doesn’t bother me,” she said about the chatter, adding, “He’s the godparent to both my kids — and they have such a great relationship.” Mindy said the rumors 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.”
