Mindy Kaling: BJ Novak dresses up like Santa for my three kids every year

I’ll defend Mindy Kaling on just about anything. Anything except for her boundary-defying mess with BJ Novak, her ex-boyfriend and “best friend” who is also godfather to her three children. From the way Mindy talks about him and their relationship, he’s always around her and the kids and he’s likely the only man who has ever been around the kids for any length of time. I’ll always defend Mindy’s choice to be a single mom on her terms and to quietly give birth to Kit, Spencer and Anne (Anne is only 9 months old!). Mindy has alluded to the idea that she wanted to do motherhood this way and she has the means to do so, so that’s great. But lord, I do hope that when the kids are all grown up, we finally get some kind of clarity on what BJ Novak’s role in all of this really was. Speaking of, apparently Novak dresses up like Santa every year for the kids.

Mindy Kaling is striving to keep the Christmas magic alive for her kids, even if one of them might be getting a little suspicious about B.J. Novak’s annual jolly disguise. While promoting season 3 of her show The Sex Lives of College Girls on Good Morning America Wednesday, Dec. 4, Kaling reflected on how her longtime friend and former The Office costar “dresses up as Santa” every year for her three children: daughter Katherine “Kit” Swati, who turns 7 this month, son Spencer Avu, 4, and daughter Anne, 9 months.

“We create this whole thing where we’re making hot chocolate in the house, the doorbell rings and it’s him dressed as Santa,” Kaling, 45, said of Novak, 45. “And he’s like, ‘Oh, the sleigh broke down, I need to come in and take a rest while we refuel!’ Then the kids get to meet Santa and he asks them if they’ve been good or bad,” she continued. “Then he leaves, and they’re so excited. But the 7-year-old, it’s going to be interesting this year because I feel like she might not buy it. The 4-year-old, we’re not sure.”

“They know him very well, especially. And he’s a good actor, but … ” Kaling added. And “so far,” the Mindy Project alum said, she and Novak have “pulled it off” for the siblings — but now, “This is going to be the year where we hope the oldest one will be chill for the younger two.”

Of Novak’s technique, Kaling said, “He wears the pillow under the suit and [says] ‘Ho, ho, ho, hello little children.’ It’s a very funny character.”

Kaling’s tradition of having Novak play Santa for her kids goes back to 2020, when she was unable to take Kit and Spencer to see Santa Claus at their local outdoor mall during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Never Have I Ever co-creator said at the time that she and Novak planned for him to be “asleep on the sofa” with a bag of toys as if he “needed to take a rest.”

“It’s so complicated why Santa was there, why he’s taking a nap,” Kaling continued. “But we’re gonna do that. We’re like, ‘Will she know it’s [B.J.] on some level?’ We don’t know. Just so you know, it’s like, we’re Hindu and B.J. is Jewish, so this is really … like, cultural appropriation on our part.”

[From People]

“It’s so complicated why Santa was there, why he’s taking a nap…” Now imagine how confused the kids are that their godfather sticks around their mom long enough to scare off any potential suitors but not long enough to actually be a partner to mom. I’ve been complaining about this for years, because that’s how long Mindy and BJ have been doing this dysfunctional sh-t!! And now three kids are involved too. I mean, AT BEST, this is yet another “cute story” about how Mindy’s heterosexual male best friend/toxic ex goes out of his way to hang out with her kids and play Santa for them. But red flags abound.

Some photos of Mindy in New York this week:

Photos courtesy of Cover Images.