Meet Mindy Kaling’s adorable three kids whose paternity has never been revealed

Mindy Kaling is practically an expert at keeping pregnancy a secret. The actress successfully hid two of her three pregnancies before surprising her fans with news of her growing family.

The Mindy Project star, 45, is a doting mother to daughter Katherine, seven, son Spencer, four, and daughter Anna, 12 months, and she has never revealed the father of her children.

Fans have long speculated that her good friend, and the godparent to two of her children, B.J. Novak could be the father of her kids, but she has never confirmed this.

Speaking about the speculation in 2022, she told Marie Claire: “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.”

Mindy prefers to keep her family out of the spotlight and will conceal her children’s identities whenever she shares photos on social media.

The actress admitted that she had a burning desire to have children after her mother passed away in 2012.

“I feel blessed because equal to my desire to find a man, I wanted to have children,” she shared on the Table for Two podcast. “And that intensified when my mother died. 

“I didn’t want to be on my deathbed…and not have anybody around my bed. I wanted there to be kids and I wanted there to be grandkids.”

She added: “The thing that was the most important thing to me was this relationship to these phantom children that I didn’t have.”

Meet Mindy’s three kids below…

Katherine Swati Kaling

Mindy’s first child, daughter Katherine ‘Kit’ Swati, was born on December 15, 2017. 

The actress admitted in the past that her daughter is nothing like how Mindy was a child, pointing out their differing personalities in an interview with People in 2020.

“I was a very shy, diffident kid who was really suspicious of people and new situations,” she said. “And she is not at all. She’s very chatty.”

Sharing further insight into Katherine’s personality on her sixth birthday in 2023, Mindy posted a cute audio clip of her daughter loudly and enthusiastically singing Alicia Keys‘ “Girl on Fire.”

Mindy gushed in the caption alongside her post: “How are you 6 years old, Kit?! I remember when you were a newborn and I took you home from Cedars and you looked at me like, ‘Does this lady even know what she’s doing?’ And I didn’t!

“But now you’re 6 and every single day you bring me so much joy. Like most recently now you love shout-singing @aliciakeys ‘THIS. GIRL. IS. ON. FIYYYAAHHH!!’ You are on fire. I love you.”

Katherine was named after actress Katherine Hepburn and Mindy’s late mother, Swati, who died in 2012 after battling pancreatic cancer.

Spencer Avu Kaling

Mindy welcomed her son, Spencer Avu on September 3, 2020. She shared the news of his arrival one month later on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert after keeping her pregnancy a secret.

“I’m telling it for the first time now, it feels so strange. But I gave birth to a baby boy on September 3,” she said.

Mindy was able to hide her pregnancy due to the COVID-19 pandemic, telling Elle that keeping her bump a secret wasn’t too hard. “Shot myself from the waist up and then also wore baggy things,” she explained. “I never got super huge, so it was a little bit easier.”

On his first birthday, Mindy penned on Instagram: “I had Spencer during Covid and it was a strange isolated time, but the instant I saw him I knew he would make everything better. If you happen to make eye contact with Spencer, he lights up like you are old war buddies and he makes a beeline to you.”

Spencer is named after actor Spencer Tracy and Mindy’s father, Avu, whom the actress has called “the hero of my family”.

Anne Kaling

On Mindy’s 45th birthday in June 2024, she announced on social media that she’d quietly welcomed a third child.

She shared photos on Instagram of the pregnancy she’d managed to hide, and photos of her new baby daughter, Anne, born in February.

“In late February I gave birth to my daughter, Anne,” Mindy penned. “She’s the best birthday present I could’ve ever imagined.” 

She added: “When things are hard, whenever I veer towards cynicism, my three kids are such a great reminder of the pure joy in my life. I’m so lucky I live in a place where I could do this by myself, on my own timeline. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!”