Mindy Kaling opens up about pregnancy

Actress Mindy Kaling is "really excited" to step into the "unknown" by becoming a mother for the first time.

The Mindy Project funnywoman hit headlines last month (Jul17) when the baby rumors first surfaced, and Oprah Winfrey, her co-star in upcoming Disney film A Wrinkle in Time, shared the news with People.com weeks later.

Now the 38-year-old has confirmed her pregnancy herself in a candid chat with U.S. newsman Willie Geist on his Sunday Today show, in an interview set to air in September (17).

"I'm really excited," she smiled at the prospect of starting a family. "It's so unknown to me. I have a lot of control over a lot of aspects of my life, and this is one where I'm like, 'OK, it's out of my hands,' which is kind of a fun feeling."

Mindy has yet to identify the father of her child, and while it remains unclear how involved he will be in the kid's upbringing, the actress is determined to take her cues from her own mother in how to raise her family.

"My mom was incredibly fierce and so devoted to us, just loved us and really wanted us to be happy no matter what we did," Mindy shared. "My career choice was not something that she was familiar with and she was just so supportive of that. And if I could give that to my child, just that open-mindedness, I'd be so happy."

Another part of parenting the star is eager to embrace is weighing in on how other moms and dads take care of their tots.

"It's so easy to criticize parenting until you're a parent, so one of the nice things about becoming a parent is that I'll be able to openly criticize other parenting because I will have a child," she quipped.

Becoming a mother appears to be a dream come true for Mindy as she previously discussed her desire to have children in 2015, when she was single.

"I think I've decided that unlike everything else in my life, I'm going to be fast and loose about kids," she told Yahoo! Style. "I'm going to not actively plan, but if it happens, it would happen."