Entertainment

THE INSIDER: MINDY KALING

“I stalk the Kardashians on Twitter….”

by liza darwin

Aside from starring as Kelly Kapoor on The Office, Mindy Kaling also boasts producing, writing, and directing credits on the hit NBC series. And with the release of her hilarious new book Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, this L.A. comedian is a triple threat if we ever saw one.

She's also a pro at Twitter, and it was Mindy's tweet to New York designer Tory Burch several months ago that first sparked an online friendship. "We met each other on Twitter and tweet back and forth all the time now," Tory told us last night at her NYC flagship boutique, where she hosted a party for Mindy and the two finally met in person. There, we spoke with Mindy about Kelly's style evolution, who she Twitter stalks, and her tried-and-true cure for FOMO. #obsessed.

So Tory says you guys met via Twitter. How did this happen?

I had just been into to the Tory Burch store to buy one of her cardigans, which are kind of my go-to present for friends and I have a bunch myself. Since I'm a comedy writer, I can't wear really nice stuff to work or else I get a lot of crap from other writers, so the sweater is a great casual staple. Anyway, when I was there I was just so in love with the store, and I thanked her on Twitter after because I had such a great experience there. She tweeted back at me that evening, and I thought, like, “Okay, Tory's such a mogul, such a baller, that somebody must be doing her Twitter for her.” But it was actually her! Obviously I had known she had gone to the Met ball with Kanye West and she just seems in a different planet, so the fact that she did her own tweets, I just thought it was awesome. We just struck up a friendship.

What's something that people do on Twitter that bugs you?

Using Twitter for self promotion is annoying. There are some people who start a Twitter account just before their movie or book comes out, and I feel like that's a little transparent.

We stalk you on Twitter...who do you secretly stalk? 

I don't know if I follow all of the Kardashians, but I definitely check in with them time to time, you know, just to see how they're doing. So yeah, I guess I stalk the Kardashians on Twitter....

Kelly's style has changed pretty drastically since the beginning of The Office. Did you have any say in that?

I mean, she does wear some stuff now that's a bit more fashion forward. For instance, she tucks shirts into skirts now, which I really like. Not only is English not her first language, but in the first episodes she'd only been in the country for like a week and a half. It was more of a fresh-off-the-boat, going through hard times look. Now she's more of a regular girl who spends all of her money on clothes.

Considering your book is called Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?, what would you say is your cure for FOMO?

I'd have to say you just can't look at your phone. I have a lot of friends in New York and they had an engagement party for my other friend a while back. They were constantly texting, Tweeting, you know, so I just couldn't look at my phone. I was like, “Ok! I'm stuck at home, what am I going to do? I guess I'll just watch Breaking Bad, go out here, and just chill.” That's my cure.

Buy Mindy Kaling's book here.