Mindy Kaling recently admitted that her “Office” costar and co-writer B.J. Novak may have been the “great love” who got away. Now Novak is sharing his thoughts on the topic.

Last month on “The Howard Stern Show,” “The Mindy Project” star and creator opened up about her relationship to Novak, whom she met in 2005 while working on the NBC mockumentary series.

“People are so different and you can overlap in certain ways that are important, but not the ones that are the most important or something,” Kaling, 35, wistfully said of her split with the mystery man, before revealing that it was Novak.

“He’s not married, he’s a good friend of mine, yeah,” Kaling, 35. “He’s my best friend. ... He broke up with me. It was years and years ago that that breakup happened.”


The actress only alluded to her costar, who called off their relationship, and revealed that when they broke up, she was “so sad.”

“Not angry. Sad, sad,” she said. “That was the hottest I ever looked ‘cause I stopped eating. When I get depressed, I stop eating. I was so miserable and so beautiful.”

When Stern, who was bent on setting her up with a new man, later guessed that the great love was Novak, the self-proclaimed “handful” said that he was “legitimately one of my best friends. I love him, and I think he’s a great person, but I’m not holding a candle for B.J.”

However, Kaling said that she still talks to him constantly and, at the time, she may have married him had he asked. (For the record: She was 24 and would have said yes to anyone who might have proposed to her.)


On Tuesday, Novak, 35, stopped by Bravo’s “Watch What Happens Live” to promote his children’s tome “The Book With No Pictures” and shared his reaction to Kaling’s confessions.

“I thought it sounded to me an honest and heartfelt account of a complicated and mostly wonderful relationship,” he told host Andy Cohen, responding to a fan question.

The onetime couple has remained on good terms, and Novak has appeared on Kaling’s Fox comedy and helped produce the pilot. Each is sprinkled throughout the other’s Instagram photos.

“The highlight of that [interview] for me was my mom calling me to pry. ‘So, what do you think of what Howard was saying? Sounded pretty interesting to me,’” Novak said. “Like that Howard Stern would somehow end up to my mom’s sort of gentle harangue as, ‘When are you getting your life together?’”


R.I.P Kelly and Ryan. Follow me on Twitter @NardineSaad