Happy belated birthday, Mindy Kaling! And a happy birthday to Anne, as well! In an unexpected turn of events, the 45-year-old actress and producer took to Instagram on June 24 to announce that she quietly welcomed her third child several months ago, a baby girl whose name is—you guessed it!—Anne.
“In late February I gave birth to my daughter, Anne,” she began the caption. The photo shows two of her children—her 6-year-old daughter Katherine and 3-year-old son Spencer—kissing their new baby sibling on the head.
“She’s the best birthday present I could’ve ever imagined,” the post continued. “When things are hard, whenever I veer towards cynicism, my three kids are such a great reminder of the pure joy in my life. I’m so lucky I live in a place where I could do this by myself, on my own timeline. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!”
Celebrities—including The Office costars—flocked to the comments section to express their congratulations. Angela Kinsey commented, “Awww congratulations Mindy!!! And happy happy birthday! ❤️” Jenna Dewan, who also recently had her third baby, added her well-wishes, as did countless more A-listers, including Quinta Brunson, John Legend, and Reese Witherspoon.
Kaling has a knack for keeping her pregnancies and childbirths private, as well as other details, such as the identity of her children’s father. When she secretly welcomed her second child, a baby boy named Spencer, in September 2020, she later revealed the news on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“I’m telling it for the first time; it feels strange, but I gave birth to a baby boy on September 3,” she told the host and viewers at the time. “This is news to a lot of people. It’s true!”
Kaling’s first pregnancy was relatively private, but not as secretive as her more recent ones, mainly because Oprah accidentally spilled the beans that she was expecting. Kaling welcomed her first child, Katherine, in December 2017.
“At first if it was like, ‘O.K., if anyone was going to announce big news about your private life, Oprah Winfrey is the person,’” Kaling told Ellen DeGeneres. (During the October episode, she publicly acknowledged her pregnancy for the first time.) “And you also can’t be like, ‘Hey, Oprah, zip it,’ because she’s almost like a religious figure… I think I learned a long time ago it’s probably not a good idea to reprimand Oprah.”
