Last year, Meghan Markle invited Mindy Kaling to participate in an episode of her Netflix lifestyle show With Love, Meghan. There, the pair cooked and did crafts for a child’s birthday party. Judging by her appearance on the program, Kaling and Meghan have an easy rapport but don’t seem to be especially close. At one point, for instance, Meghan corrects Kaling about her last name: it’s not Markle anymore, but Sussex.
Still, it seems Kaling may have picked up something from her interactions with the duchess. On a visit to Kaling’s Los Angeles office for a Bustle cover story, writer Ashley Spencer spotted an item with a royal connection: a bedazzled picture frame with the words “Never Complain, Never Explain” embroidered on mustard yellow fabric. The phrase should be familiar to royal watchers: it’s a signature line spoken by Queen Elizabeth II that eventually became an unofficial royal family motto.
The token was apparently a gift to Kaling from B.J. Novak, her co-star from The Office. Kaling and Novak dated in the 2000s; now they have a close friendship, and Kaling has said that Novak is the godfather to her three children, Katherine, 8, Spencer, 5, and Anne, 2. Kaling knows that her friendship with Novak has raised a few eyebrows. “He really is in our family, and I love talking about him because my kids adore him, and he’s such a huge part of our life. But I also know that it gives people a lot of ideas,” she says in the profile. “If I was just watching it from the outside, I would have the same questions and the same reactions.”
As the author of two essay collections, Mindy Kaling is usually seen as an open book, but throughout the interview, Kaling’s answers retain an air of mystery. In response to questions about her dating life, she says only that she is still single; when asked about her recent visible weight loss, she says she doesn’t want to talk about methods, only motivations. She adds, in a coda: “Of course, it’s never a joy to be scrutinized, but also I truly understand it, as someone who consumes pop culture.” It’s an update to Elizabeth’s adage fit for the 21st century: Kinda complain, kinda explain.
Kaling was a bit more open when speaking to Time in 2025 about her relationship with Markle—sorry, Sussex. “Meghan texted me that she was doing a show where she was going to cook for her friends. Would I want to come to Montecito and have her cook for me? I wanted to get taken care of in that moment of my life. That was a fun maternity leave field trip,” Kaling said. “I left with a basket of fresh produce and homemade jam and hot sauce because she knew I loved hot sauce. She’s a very generous woman who knew I needed a break.”
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