Yahoo Movies Mindy Kaling Gets Candid About Protecting Her Kids' Privacy: 'I'm the Only Parent My Kids Have'
Kanya Iwana for Marie Claire
Mindy Kaling is getting real about why protecting her kids' privacy means so much to her.
The Never Have I Ever creator, 43, appears on the cover of The Wellness Issue of Marie Claire, where she opened up about her life as a mom to her two children, son Spencer Avu, 23 months, and daughter Katherine "Kit" Swati, 4.
"I want them to be old enough to talk to me about it and [tell me] how they want me to talk about it," Kaling says of her kids being in the public eye.
"I'm the only parent my kids have," she continues. "I think I err on the side of super cautious so that there's less things that they can potentially be mad at me about down the line."
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Kaling is known to be private about her children. She rarely shares photos of her kids and when she does, their faces are not visible in the photo.
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While appearing on Tuesday's episode of Today, the actress joked with host Craig Melvin about Katherine's change of heart about being a big sister.
"The 4-year-old is a little bit of a tattle tale," the actress admitted. "I'm excited because she was a little indifferent to her younger brother and now he's really useful to her because she can be like, 'Mom, he ate a pretzel off the floor. Get him in trouble!'"
Kaling's tried explaining to Katherine that she doesn't have to tattle, but said her daughter hasn't gotten on board just yet. "I'm like, 'It's okay. We don't have to narc on our little brother. He's not hurting anyone that he's eating the pretzel off the floor,'" she said.
The Ocean's 8 star gave birth to her youngest during the onset of the pandemic in 2020. In April, she told PEOPLE about how the benefits outweighed the challenges of the unique situation.
"He's probably brought me the most joy in the past 18 months and he could not have come at a better time," said The Mindy Project alum. "That was a nice distraction from the pandemic and he's so fun and his personality is unlike anything in my family on either side."
"He's so full of joy and he's not neurotic. He's not anxious at all. He's just a boy who loves trucks and tires. And if you show him any tire, he'll be so happy. Like tiny on a car, anything, he just loves it." she added. "So that's a real joy in my life."
