For Mindy Kaling, motherhood happened at just the right time.
Seventeen months after the Late Night star, 39, welcomed daughter Katherine Swati, she opens up to Glamour for the magazine’s June digital cover story about how motherhood shifted her perspective in the best way.
When asked if there was a “right time” for her to have a baby, Kaling responds, “No, there wasn’t. I always knew I wanted to be a mom, but I would have put it off and put it off. I’m happy that it happened when it did. I would have put it off indefinitely.”
“I’ve seen firsthand the heartbreak of women who have waited to get pregnant [and then it doesn’t happen],” she continues. “For me, my relationship with my mother was such an integral part of my life. Thinking back on our relationship is still such a huge source of my happiness day to day, so I’m so grateful for having Katherine.”
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Kaling has never shown her daughter’s face on social media — and she makes it clear that while her usually open nature hasn’t changed, it applies to herself only and not Katherine.
“I’m on social media and like sharing with people what my interests are and how my day’s going and all of that, but I do feel entitled to have privacy about my daughter and my relationships,” says The Mindy Project alum. “It’s really essential to my life that there be something not everybody knows about.”
“That’s a boundary, but it’s a very small boundary,” Kaling explains. “Everything else I really don’t have any issue sharing.”
The actress and author says she would “love” for her daughter “to admire and try to emulate the way I work, while also not feeling some of the anxieties I have around it” as she grows up.
“I feel so lucky to give her a comfortable life,” Kaling tells Glamour. “Obviously my preference would be that she not go into my career choice, because of how hard it is. You need to harden yourself to get through it. I would love it if her interests lie somewhere else.”
“The difference is I had my mom and my dad. She just has me,” she adds. “I know at some point I will have to do less, because it’s not like there’s a dad at home picking up some of the slack. I think that’s another reason I work so hard — because I know that when she gets a little bit older, I want to be able to take off more time to spend with her.”
Late Night, also starring Emma Thompson, John Lithgow and Hugh Dancy, opens in theaters Friday.
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