'Parties are stressful for me': Mindy Kaling admits she suffers from social anxiety and opens up about being a single mom
Her onscreen personas are so confident and ballsy fans would be forgiven for assuming Mindy Kaling never gets anxious.
But the 39-year-old actress and producer has admitted that in certain social situations, where she doesn't know anyone, she gets very stressed.
Opening up in a new feature for Glamour the Massachusetts born beauty says: 'People may be surprised to hear this, but I think I do have a little social anxiety,
Mindy Kaling talks about her success, her social anxiety and being a single mom in a new feature for Glamour
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'Going to parties where I don't know most of the people is stressful to me. I've always had four friends. I've always felt, not exactly a loner, but…[for example,] I love the Met Gala, but the no-plus-one thing has always been a real stressor for me.
'Luckily Anna Wintour made it so that you're going to a literal museum, where there's so much to take in. If we weren't going to a museum and just to an event space, I would need to take a Valium or something before I go because it's so stressful to me.
'That's not really something people know about me, because I am so open to one-on-one conversations like this one.'
The Mindy Project creator became a mom in December 2017, welcoming daughter Katherine and has been careful to keep the identity of the father a secret as well as avoiding sharing snaps of her little girl's face online.
'I love the Met Gala, but the no-plus-one thing has always been a real stressor for me' the actress says of her social anxiety which causes her to avoid parties where she doesn't know anyone
'It's really essential to my life that there be something not everybody knows about,' Mindy, 39, said of keeping her life with her daughter Katherine a secret
'It's really essential to my life that there be something not everybody knows about,' she says. 'That's a boundary, but it's a very small boundary. Everything else I really don't have any issue sharing.'
Becoming a mom was important to Mindy but she admits she kept putting it off for too long.
'I'm happy that it happened when it did,' she tells Glamour. 'I would have put it off indefinitely. I've seen firsthand the heartbreak of women who have waited to get pregnant [and then it doesn't happen].
'For me, my relationship with my mother was such an integral part of my life. Thinking back on our relationship is still such a huge source of my happiness day to day, so I'm so grateful for having Katherine.'
Mindy says she would love it if Katherine inherited her sense of drive and ambition but wouldn't encourage her to go into the entertainment industry.
'I know at some point I will have to do less, because it's not like there's a dad at home picking up some of the slack.' The Massachusetts born beauty says of raising Katherine on her own
'I think there's been a tendency for people to conflate my characters with my personality. The fact of the matter is, I wrote 24 episodes of The Office,' Mindy says of her success and the misconceptions about her due to the characters she plays. She is pictured May 30
She explains, 'Obviously my preference would be that she not go into my career choice, because of how hard it is. You need to harden yourself to get through it. I would love it if her interests lie somewhere else. But the difference is I had my mom and my dad. She just has me.
'I know at some point I will have to do less, because it's not like there's a dad at home picking up some of the slack. I think that's another reason I work so hard; because I know that when she gets a little bit older, I want to be able to take off more time to spend with her.'
The former The Office star credits her drive to work harder than anyone in the room for her success.
'I think the stigma with hard work is that it's often at the expense of people thinking you're an artist,' she says. 'I resent when the characterization of me is that "She's only gotten this far from hard work" - the implication being that if you're truly talented, you don't have to work so hard.
Next up: Mindy currently stars in comedy Late Night opposite Emma Thompson, released Friday
'That's not true. I think there's been a tendency for people to conflate my characters with my personality. The fact of the matter is, I wrote 24 episodes of The Office. That's more than any other person on The Office, but no one can really picture me sitting and doing the hard work of writing the episodes.
'It's like it doesn't compute to people because I can wear all pink and recreate Beyoncé videos. Do you know what I mean? There's an outdated version of what some people think of me because of the characters I've played. That isn't consistent with who I actually am. I find that a little disappointing.'
Mindy currently stars in comedy Late Night opposite Emma Thompson, released Friday.
Kaling covers Glamour's June digital cover with an interview by Jessica Radloff and a photo spread by Nadya Wasylko
