Mindy Kaling has a confident kid on her hands.
“I don’t know where it’s coming from, this well of confidence,” the actress, 40, told Us Weekly and other reporters on Monday, October 14, at the 26th Annual ELLE Women in Hollywood Celebration of her 22-month-old daughter, Katherine. “Probably from being [almost] 2 years old and having no fear.”
The Office alum has already thought about how she will continue building the toddler’s self-esteem in the future. “[I’ll be] unconditionally supportive and not fill her with worries about things that she can’t control,” she told Us. [She won’t be] scared to speak out and speak her mind and let her words have value, probably.”
When it comes to her work ethic, the Emmy nominee also wants Katherine to follow in her footsteps. “If I can set that example for her to work hard like I did, I think I’d be happy,” Kaling told Us in June. “I work incredibly hard. It’s like, work hard, play hard. I definitely work more hard than I play hard. And so I think that’s not bad. I think that I have never gotten anything easily and that’s OK!”
After welcoming the little one in December 2017, the Why Not Me? author has kept quiet about the identity of her daughter’s father — and she’s still keeping her lips sealed. “My feeling is that, until I speak to my daughter about that, I’m not going to talk to anyone else about it,” the Late Night star told The New York Times that same month.
As a single mom, the Massachusetts native loves spending time with Katherine in the pool. “I want to maximize the time where I’m better at things than she is, so I’m a bad swimmer, but we go swimming because she’s like, ‘You’re incredible!’ and I’m like, ‘Thank you!’” Kaling told Us on Monday. “She’s just like, ‘You’re amazing.’ She thinks I’m Michael Phelps. … I think she’ll turn about 6 and be like, ‘You stink!’”
With reporting by Carly Sloane
