Actress and writer Mindy Kaling has an active social media following, but as a mom of two kids, she has made it a point not to share her children's photos on the internet for a simple but solid reason.
"The Office" star said that while she doesn't judge other celebrities for sharing their kids' photos, she has personally made a choice not to upload pictures of Katherine, 3, and Spencer, 1, publicly because she wants to get "real consent" from her kids.
Speaking with People, Kaling said that she would have to wait until Katherine and Spencer are old enough to tell their mother whether they want or do not want to be featured on her social media account. Until then, she would only share images of her kids with their faces hidden from the camera lens.
"My sense is that [my kids] have no real consent right now to do that," Kaling said.
It's a Safety Thing
Kaling also said that as much as she wants to share her children's cutest moments and achievements, she feels that keeping them off the limelight is for their safety. The celebrity mom explained that she doesn't want the public to look at her kids "as though they know them or they're friends" because their faces are familiar, as it would be very confusing to the young ones at this point.
The actress joins several parents in the public eye trying to control the amount of public coverage their children receive. Recently, George Clooney wrote an open letter to different media outlets asking them to stop publishing photos of celebrity kids because they are not public figures like their parents.
Clooney said it is a safety issue for his family because his wife, Amal Clooney, is a human rights lawyer who put terrorist groups on trial. The actor also said that this isn't about paranoia, but his twin children's lives could be in real danger if their faces were splattered all over the internet.
Daddy's Secret Identity
Meanwhile, Kaling has also not publicly revealed the father of her kids. She has acknowledged that she is a single mother who relies on family members and caregivers to help her with Katherine and Spencer.
For years, rumors circulated that her co-star B.J. Novak is the biological dad since they dated on and off and knew each other before they both became famous in Hollywood. However, Novak is simply Katherine's godfather, and Kaling said in an interview with Good Housekeeping that their friendship has been platonic.
Page Six reported that the name of Katherine's father is not listed on her birth certificate. The mom also said in 2019 that she wouldn't talk about the dad until she could speak to her daughter about the details surrounding her birth, and it's likely the same condition for Spencer's case.
