Everything Mindy Kaling Has Said About Embracing Her Body

Body positivity is here to stay. For many years, society championed impossible standards, emphasizing the necessity of slimness above all else. Now, those narrow standards are giving way to much broader definitions of fashion, beauty, and health. Finally, we're beginning to realize that all bodies — slim, large, and everything in between — are worthy of love and acceptance.

Like all movements, body positivity gains momentum with support from celebrities and influencers. One of the most vocally body positive celebs is multi-hyphenate Mindy Kaling. The writer, actor, comedian, producer, and director has always been refreshingly real about staying beautiful in the public eye — and how much work it actually takes. She has shared her beauty essentials and even her struggles with social anxiety (via Scary Mommy) while transforming in front of our eyes over the years. 

For anyone looking for examples of genuine, down-to-earth body positivity, Kaling's words of wisdom are sure to inspire. Read these the next time you need a reminder of your own inherent beauty, power, and worthiness, no matter your body type.

Mindy Kaling's career launched in 2002 when she debuted a play she wrote at the New York International Fringe Festival. The success of her play led to her job as a writer, director, producer, and performer on comedy fave "The Office" (via Business Insider). That was over two decades ago, and, despite her body changing over the years, she's not bothered. "I would love to be the size I was when I was 32 or something, but I just refuse to beat myself up about it," Kaling said in Shape in 2021.

She proved that in 2019 with a viral Instagram post featuring two pictures of her in bikinis and a video of her telling an important story poolside. "What I was struck about Hawaii is that everybody wears bikinis," she said in the video about visiting a friend in The Aloha State. "It does not matter what your body type is. You rock a bikini." Her caption drove the message home further, as she proclaimed, "IDK who needs to hear this but... WEAR A BIKINI IF YOU WANT TO WEAR A BIKINI." Inspired followers even went on to tag Kaling in their own bikini selfies.

Mindy Kaling has spoken several times over the years about her relationship with fitness. For her, it's never been about weight loss. In 2018, right after having her first child, Kaling said in an interview that "I don't go to therapy, and I think that's because I get endorphins from exercise. It's such a powerful tool for me mentally" (via Shape). In another interview three years later, she was still "sheepish" about her relationship with fitness. "I feel like in conversations about fitness and exercise, if you're going to be talking about someone who's healthy and fit, you have to be a hard body with, like, a six-pack," she told Shape.

These days Kaling is more vocal than ever about her love for working out and what it does for her mind, body, and spirit. In an interview with People, she said that she used to have a rigid understanding of what exercise was and that she needed to "hate it." Now, she has made peace with her love for exercise, even though she may not have a typical "shredded" body. "[It's] too bad because I think there's a lot of women like me, who love movement, love how it makes them feel, but don't necessarily feel confident enough in the way that they look that they feel like owning it," Kaling said. "And that's been a big difference in my life in the past couple of years is that now I'm like, no, I will own it."  

Hopefully, her attitude will inspire others to feel the same way.