USA TODAY International Edition
Kaling ‘ Never’ expected down time
Mindy Kaling is adjusting just fine to life in quarantine.
In fact, she’s thriving. When we call her up to talk about “Never Have I Ever,” a new Netflix comedy ( streaming April 27) that’s inspired by her teenage years, the quick- witted writer/ actress is in the midst of making a brisket.
“I know; I was impressed myself,” Kaling says excitedly. “It’s very unlike me, but I’m doing a ton of cooking because I’m at home all day.”
Part of the fun has been testing out recipes on her 2- year- old daughter, Katherine ( or “Kit”), who is “a really picky eater, so there’s something uniquely gratifying about finding things for her to eat,” Kaling says. They recently had a taco night, “and she loved that she could just jam her hands in different toppings and put them on. That was a big hit.” But “The Office” veteran insists she’s no Ina Garten.
“A lot of the cooking is bad,” Kaling says. “That’s the nice thing about ( toddlers): She can’t really tell good food from bad food, so it’s not like I’m cooking these gourmet feasts that always succeed.”
Kaling, 40, gave birth in December 2017, a month after her Hulu comedy “The Mindy Project” ended its six- season run on Fox and Hulu. Since then, she’s been working nonstop: writing and starring in last year’s “Late Night” with Emma Thompson, as well as cocreating and producing “Never Have I Ever” and two other TV shows, “Champions” and “Four Weddings and a Funeral.”
Despite the frightening realities of the coronavirus pandemic, Kaling sees isolation as a chance to spend more time with her daughter.
“I don’t normally get to have this experience of being a stay- at- home mom,” Kaling says. “I did my maternity leave, but my baby was so small that it wasn’t like she had a personality. It’s like, I get to redo my maternity leave, but she’s 2 and she talks and I can hang out with her. And I’m not, like, recovering from delivering a baby and I don’t have to breastfeed. I’ve been thinking of it as the maternity leave that I wanted,” she continues. “So I’m doing a lot of cooking and being domestic, which is something I don’t really get to do.”
Kaling acknowledges that unlike most single parents, she’s lucky to have a nanny who helps out. And keeping her daughter entertained around the clock isn’t always easy.
“There’s a photo my nanny took of me where I’m hiding in the curtains,” Kaling says with a laugh. “There’s a game I play with Kit where I hide in the curtains, but ( my nanny’s) joke about me is that I’m hiding in the curtains for like, an hour a day. Because it’s very fun, but it’s also exhausting. I really have such a newfound respect for stayat- home moms because kids are relentless. So it’s been very challenging, too.”
Working from home, on the other hand, hasn’t been a major adjustment.
“For a lot of people, this lifestyle is very different than what their regular life is like,” Kaling says. “And yeah, there’s some things I did ( before) – like I would go to more events and do more on- camera stuff – but ( as a writer), it’s not that different from my normal life when I’m not in production on a show. I spend four to five hours a day writing from home on different shows, then I do my at- home Peloton workout. So there are some things where I’ve been actually more productive than I normally am, because now everybody’s ( working from home) and now I have a feeling of competition with them.”
Check back later this month for USA TODAY’s full interview with Kaling about “Never Have I Ever.”