Mindy Kaling on Losing Weight: ‘I Want to Live at Least 20 More Years for My Children’

Mindy Kaling has long been one of the more candid celebrities. The star has discussed the weight struggles of youth in her writing, which is part of why her recent weight loss has sparked so much discourse. In a new interview with Bustle, Kaling dove into her recent transformation and the why behind it.

Kaling told the outlet that the motivation to lose weight all came down to her children and a reckoning she had with her own health history. “I want to live at least 20 more years for my children,” she explains.

“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.”

The 46-year-old mom of three says the shift has made all the difference in how she feels. “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 says. For now, that’s all she shared, but during the interview, she did wink at the potential of addressing the topic further in her writing.

Kaling credits food moderation, running, hiking and strength training for her weight loss. While she’s excited about her shift, she understands why the public has a lot to say. “It’s sometimes no fun when one of your favorite actors loses weight,” she says. “You have an idea of what they were like when you grew attached to them, and it made them endear themselves to you.”