Mindy Kaling was texting Oprah Winfrey when she was in labour.
The 39-year-old star has revealed she is so honoured to be friends with the 64-year-old talk show host that she didn’t mind answering her messages when she was giving birth to her daughter Katherine Swati – whose father’s name is being kept concealed by Mindy – in December last year.
Appearing on Busy Philipps’ ‘Busy Tonight’ show on Sunday (28.10.18), she recalled: "I’m not like Gayle [King] close with Oprah … but I would say we’re friends.
"I have her phone number … when I was in labour with my baby … she texted me about, something about like her magazine, and I remember, I am literally in labour, and I was like ‘Oh, of course, anything.’ … I’m in Cedars-Sinai, I’m there, hooked up to the thing … I didn’t even tell her I was like busy or in labour because I was like, ‘Anything you want, of course!"
Meanwhile, Mindy recently admitted she feels blessed to be able to shift her own workload to fit around her 10-month-old daughter.
She said: "I’m creating my own opportunities. And when I do that, my baby comes to work a couple times a week, and I live 15 minutes away from [work], and I create our schedule, so if I need to take her to the doctor I can. I know that’s not the case for everybody else, and I feel really lucky, but yeah, that’s my life right now."
And the ‘Mindy Project’ star wants to encourage acceptance of women being able to bring their children to work.
She added: "You see all these photos of writers and you’re like, ‘Oh, there’s nobody with gray hair or anyone older than 40.’ And I’m 39, so that’s frightening, especially when you have a baby. But what I’ve been noticing more and more is that there are more working women. And the writers’ room … is one of the most ageist places ever.
"There’s more mature people working on shows. I think that’s gonna be the next big push, actually, is making places so you can be a mom, have your kids, bring your kids to work if you need to. That’s what Tracey Wigfield and I are doing on our new show. But I think it’s a tiny bit sexist as well, and people are worried that because you have kids you won’t be able to pay more attention. Any mother will tell you it makes you so razor-sharp focused on your career because you’re so worried about money."
Mindy Kaling texted Oprah Winfrey in labour
