Mindy Kaling Got Asked the Most Bizarrely Sexist Question During an 'Ocean's 8' Interview

Mindy Kaling Seth Meyers — (Image credit: Getty Images)

Mindy Kaling is currently doing the rounds promoting her new movie, Ocean's 8. For actors, promoting a movie means doing interview after interview after interview and, with an ensemble like Ocean's 8, it's not uncommon for at least some of those interviews to be done in groups.

Kaling was in a joint interview with costars Anne Hathaway and Sarah Paulson when she encountered a head-scratchingly sexist (/just plain clueless) question. She described the awkward encounter during an interview on Late Night with Seth Meyers.

"When you’re doing these heist movies, everyone has their special power, which is why Debbie Ocean pulls us together to do this heist," Kaling explained. "In the movie, Anne plays an actress and Sarah plays a party promoter. With me, the male reporter was like, ‘Mindy, you play a jeweler. Now, you’re not married and you’ve never been engaged, so how do you know about diamonds?'"

Meyers rightly pointed out that, you know, that's not how acting works. After all, none of the women in the movie have ever pulled off a heist in real life and, yet, they were cast to pretend to do just that on camera.

"[The reporter] was basically like, ‘You’re a famous spinster…you’d never been near a diamond before,'" Kaling said. "So if you’re not married or engaged, you’ve never seen a diamond. He was so incredulous. He couldn’t put it together. He was basically like, ‘No man has ever loved you!'"

See incredible single woman Mindy Kaling fake her way through knowing what a diamond is for yourself when Ocean's 8 is released on June 8.

Kayleigh Roberts is a freelance writer and editor with over 10 years of professional experience covering entertainment of all genres, from new movie and TV releases to nostalgia, and celebrity news. Her byline has appeared in Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, ELLE, Harper’s Bazaar, The Atlantic, Allure, Entertainment Weekly, MTV, Bustle, Refinery29, Girls’ Life Magazine, Just Jared, and Tiger Beat, among other publications. She's a graduate of the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.