Mindy Kaling, 46, says becoming a mom changed why she wanted to lose weight

• Mindy Kaling says having kids made her more conscious about her health.
• She said her motivation to be fit is no longer vanity, but wanting to “live at least 20 more years” for her kids.
• Even so, Kaling said she understands why her weight loss can spark strong public reactions.

Mindy Kaling says becoming a mom changed the way she thinks about her health.

Speaking to Bustle in an interview published on Tuesday, Kaling reflected on her weight-loss journey and the public scrutiny that comes with it.

“It’s sometimes no fun when one of your favorite actors loses weight. You have an idea of what they were like when you grew attached to them, and it made them endear themselves to you,” Kaling said. “Of course, it’s never a joy to be scrutinized, but also I truly understand it, as someone who consumes pop culture.”

Although Kaling has long been open about not fitting Hollywood’s traditional beauty ideals, she said her fitness journey is now driven by the need to “live at least 20 more years” for her kids.

“Do I wake up every day being like, ‘I look amazing and I’m so gorgeous’? No, unsurprisingly, but I truly feel so healthy,” she said.

Kaling has two daughters and one son, but has never publicly revealed the identity of the children’s father.

The actor added her goals around weight and fitness look very different now than they did earlier in her life.

“When I was younger, I would want to lose weight because of vanity reasons. Now I want to lose weight or have lost weight because I want to stave off things like diabetes. I had it on both sides of my family, and trying to avoid those kinds of things will, I think, help longevity for me, and that’s my goal,” she said.

In 2022, Kaling told People that she was trying to build a healthier relationship with exercise, after years of viewing it as something that needed to feel punishing to be effective.

“I’ve really been mixing it up and knowing that if a workout doesn’t necessarily make me soak my clothes with sweat, that it still was a good workout… It does not have to be punishing,” she said.

In 2024, she told Prevention that she stays active through strength training and walking 15 to 20 miles a week.

“If I have any phone call, I just pick up the phone and I just go for a walk. Sometimes I listen to music, but it’s been such an easy way to get three to five miles a day of walking and movement, which I think is really important,” Kaling said.