Trending 11th June 2018 by Helen O'Neill

‘Can I Do This By Myself?’ Mindy Kaling Has Opened Up About Being A Single Mother

Could we love her any more?

Mindy Kaling has gotten candid about her experience of becoming a single mother.

The 38-year-old Oceans 8 star gave a commencement speech at her alma mater Dartmouth College over the weekend, where she talked about her seven-month-old daughter Katherine.

After my daughter was born in December, I remember bringing her home, and being in my house with her for the first time and thinking, ‘Huh, according to movies and TV, this is traditionally the time when my mother and spouse are supposed to be here, sharing this experience with me.

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“I looked around and I had neither, and for a moment it was kind of scary, like, ‘Can I do this by myself?’ But then that feeling went away because the reality is, I’m not doing it by myself. I’m surrounded by family and friends who love and support me,” she continued.

Mindy said the joy that she feels being with her daughter has eclipsed “anything from any crazy checklist: “So I just want to tell you guys, don’t be scared if you don’t do things in the right order or if you don’t do some things at all.”

The actress said she didn’t plan to have a child before she got married, before quipping:

I didn’t think I’d have dessert before breakfast today, but hey, it turned out that way and I wouldn’t change a thing.

In addition to talking about her newfound motherhood, the actress and author offered the students her own brand of life advice: “In general, advice isn’t actually an effective way to change your life. If all it took to make your life great was hearing amazing advice, then everyone who watched TED Talks would be a millionaire.

“So don’t trust anyone’s story of how to become successful. As Madeline Albright said at my Commencement – see, I don’t remember anything. And I did just fine.”

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Mindy also gave a shout out to all the women in the audience, expressing how women need to keep on supporting one another, at the same time slipping in a plug for her new movie:

Hey girls, we need to do a better job of supporting each other. I know that I am guilty of it too. We live in a world where it seems like there’s only room for one of us at the table.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we worked together to dismantle a system that makes us feel like there’s limited room for us? When women work together we can accomplish anything, even stealing the world’s most expensive diamond necklace from the Met Gala, like in Ocean’s 8, a movie starring me, which opens in theatres June 8!” LOL. Love you, Mindy.