Mindy Kaling Got Mistaken For Malala Yousafzai

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Everyone gets mistaken for someone else at some point, but for Mindy Kaling, this is a real stretch.

The Mindy Project showrunner and star, 35, was mistaken for the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner, 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai. 


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When Mindy, 35, was with a New York Times reporter at the Trump SoHo hotel in New York earlier this month, a man reportedly said to her while tipsy, "Congratulations on your Nobel Prize." He also "expressed wonder at how well she recovered from Taliban gunshots."

Two years ago, Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan for insisting that girls have the right to an education. Her activism efforts have inspired the world.

Mindy was reportedly left speechless after the mix-up. She later said to the reporter, "Did he really think I’m Malala?" She got a kick out of the situation and further questioned, "And that if I were, I'd be at the Boom Boom Room?”


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At the end of the day, Mindy found it to be a compliment, saying, "That’s the best thing that’s happened all night.”

Watch Mindy Kaling take being called ugly and fat as a compliment.