'Role he was born to play': Mindy Kaling pays tribute to dad on Father's Day as she shares his rare pic with her 2 children
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Mindy Kaling shared an adorable photo of her children and her father to celebrate Father’s Day on Instagram. The actress also penned a heartfelt caption appreciating him not only as a father but also as a grandfather to her two children.
This was a surprising post to many as Kaling is extremely private about her personal life across social media, especially when it comes to her children. The 43-year-old has previously talked about how she is not keen on sharing her children with the world until they are old enough.
'I love him to the moon and back'
Kaling’s post was quite the emotional one. The picture she shared showed her father Avu Chokalingam dozing off in a chair, while her two children -- daughter Katherine, 5, and son Spencer, 2 -- are hanging off from the chairs on either side of him.
View this post on Instagram
The caption of the post read, “My dad shows up. He was the one who drove me home from the hospital after both my kids were born.” ‘The Office’ actress shared snippets from her daily life, saying, “To this day, he comes to the house at least once a day to play with the kids, take them to the farmers market, pick them up from school, or walk Spencer around the block in my son’s precious blue toddler car. He also says yes to my kids when they say “let’s spin Grandpa around in the round chair really fast.””
Kaling continued, “It’s funny how my love deepened for my dad when he became a grandfather, the role he was born to play. I love him to the moon and back, which is what he says to my kids.”
She then concluded the caption by wishing her followers and wrote, “Whoever it is for your family - husband, partner, grandparent, mom, wife, step-parent, nanny, sibling, old friend - I hope you have someone out there who shows up for you and your family! It is the great blessing of our life. Now I’m gonna cry. Okay! Love to everyone today!”
Kaling on keeping her family life private
The actress has been vocal about not exposing her private life too much as a celebrity. In an interview with Marie Claire in 2022, she shared that she is not in on the idea of showing her children around on social media at least until they are “old enough to talk about it.”
Kaling, a single mother, said in the interview, “I want them to be old enough to talk to me about it and (tell me) how they want me to talk about it …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.”
She also addressed the rumors of friend and former partner BJ Novak being the father of her children and said that it doesn’t bother her. The actress said, “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… If that's what is going to be titillating to people, I'll take it.”