Entertainment
Mindy Kaling recalls being labelled ‘unattractive’ on The Mindy Project: ‘I didn’t know I was so unattractive’-Meghna Amin-Entertainment – Metro
The Office star opened up about her time fronting the comedy.
‘I didn’t know I was so unattractive until I was the star of my own show.’ (Picture: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP)
Mindy Kaling has recalled being branded as ‘unattractive’ by the media during the years she starred in comedy The Mindy Project.
Between 2012 and 2017, The Mindy Project ran for six series and followed Mindy Lahiri navigating her life in New York.
However, while the light comedy was popular in its time, The Office star has revealed that she suffered from being labelled as ‘unattractive’ at the time.
The 43-year-old said: ‘The amount of articles that were like, “It’s so good for a culture that this unattractive woman is finally on camera.”
‘I didn’t know I was so unattractive until I was the star of my own show.’
She added to Marie Claire: ‘So not having to see those things, that’s wonderful.’
Meanwhile, Quantico star Priyanka Chopra Jonas gushed over Mindy for being a ‘pioneer’ who ‘pushed open the doors and said, “Mainstream TV, here we come”‘.
Actress Priyanka Chopra Jonas gushed over Mindy Kaling being a ‘pioneer’ (Picture: Stephane Cardinale – Corbis/Corbis via Getty Images)
Priyanka added: ‘Hollywood’s saying, “Okay, they’re not just a check in the box or a character that you throw in there so that we can pretend to be diverse,”‘ highlighting how Mindy was vital to Priyanka’s own Hollywood-Bollywood crossover and paving the way for future generations of South Asian actors, including stars in Mindy’s Netflix series, Never Have I Ever.
Last year, Mindy opened up about a hurtful comment from a writer who told her to lose weight and the effect it had on her going in.
Mindy recalled being told to lose weight for her role in The Office (Picture: NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
She revealed that when she was 25, a writer had suggested that her character ‘lose 15 pounds’, which tapped into her existing insecurities.
She explained on Good Morning America: ‘I remember thinking that I am already someone who is getting up before a call time at 6.30am to go to the gym to do the elliptical for 45 minutes.
‘This is my greatest insecurity and someone just called it out. When that moment happened, it was so huge to me.
‘And it was one of those things where you can’t express anger and hurt in a room like that.’
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Mindy revealed that she channeled those conversations into her own writing for shows such as The Mindy Project, letting the characters say what she wished she could have responded in the moment.
The Mindy Project is available to rent on Amazon Prime.
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