B.J. Novak Responds to Mindy Kaling's Revelation That She Once Wanted to Marry Him

Author says it was "an honest and heartfelt account of a complicated and mostly wonderful relationship"

By Zach Johnson Oct 01, 2014 1:45 PMTags

If there's ever a When Harry Met Sally... remake, it should star B.J. Novak and Mindy Kaling.

The amicable exes met as writers on NBC's The Office, and to this day, they continue to support each other both on- and off-screen. On Tuesday, in fact, Kaling tweeted a picture of herself holding Novak's The Book With No Pictures. "No one bother me," the Mindy Project star wrote. "I'm reading it all day."

Later that night, Novak was asked how he felt about Kaling revealing she once considered marrying him. "I thought it was...it sounded to me an honest and heartfelt account of a complicated and mostly wonderful relationship," the author said on Bravo's Watch What Happens Live." Novak, 35, added, "The highlight of that experience for me was my mom calling to sort of pry, like, 'So, what do you think of what Howard was saying? Sounded pretty interesting to me.' Like Howard Stern would somehow end up as part of my mom's sort of gentle harangue as, 'When are you gonna get your life together?'"

Andy Cohen suggested that Novak's mother must have learned new facts about his former romantic relationship with Kaling, to which the Saving Mr. Banks star said, "I suppose she did." Was it awkward? "We're adults at this point, so now that you're mentioning it, yeah, it's a little awkward," Novak replied.

Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for The Weinstein Company

When Kaling appeared on Stern's SiriusXM radio show earlier this month, she revealed that Novak had dumped her "years and years ago." The 35-year-old TV star admitted she was "so sad" when they broke up. "Not angry, sad," Kaling said. "That was the hottest I've ever looked because I stopped eating. When I get depressed I stop eating. So, I was so miserable and so beautiful. I remember waking up, barely getting out of bed and we worked together but I didn't care. I had no makeup on...I was real miserable."

Asked if she would have married Novak, Kaling replied, "At the time? Oh yeah. I was 24. For the record, if anyone asked me to marry me, I would have said yes." In spite of their breakup, the exes are still "best friends. Kaling then clarified, "I love him, I think he's a great person but I'm not holding a candle for B.J."

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