Entertainment

Mindy Kaling Totally Forgot About The Time She Publicly Fangirled Over Her New Bestie, Oprah

by Taylor Ferber
Bustle Cuts/YouTube

While on the promotion trail for the new film A Wrinkle in Time, it seems three of the film's biggest stars have become the ultimate besties. Still, that doesn't mean Oprah, Reese Witherspoon, and Mindy Kaling didn't get starstruck by one another at some point in the past. During an interview at the film's LA junket, Mindy Kaling was reminded of a 2013 tweet in which she fangirled over Oprah... and she just so happened to make this realization in front of Oprah. NBD.

In the video below, the cast is presented with a game in which they have to guess which Wrinkle cast member a series of compliments and overtures from fans on the internet are about. One of them was from Kaling: February 2013, she tweeted, "I can't go to work tomorrow. Still recovering from @beyonce and @Oprah." Not only did Oprah initially guess that the tweet was about director Ava DuVernay, but Kaling completely forgot she was the one who posted the tweet. "I did?!" Kaling says. "OK yeah, that does roll off the tongue." In the video, Oprah reacts by initially dropping her jaw before smiling at her co-star.

In case you also aren't sure where it came from, the tweet was posted after Super Bowl XLVII, where Beyonce reunited in a performance with Destiny's Child, causing Oprah to react and tweet, "BEYONCE!!!!!!!!!!!!" There was so much epic fangirling happening that day eight years ago, but it makes sense that Oprah would guess the tweet was about Beyonce and DuVernay, since the director worked with Jay-Z for the 2017 music video "Family Feud."

When there are so many powerful forces coming together at once, how is it possible to keep it all straight? As proven by Kaling, it's probably not, and that's totally understandable.

But while these three fangirl over each other, the world continues fangirling over them. In the process, it seems they've become really close pals. In a February interview with E!, for example, Oprah told them a Starbucks barista didn't know who she was, and they all got a total kick out of the story. They also bonded over the photoshop fails in Vanity Fair from January (when Witherspoon and Oprah were gifted a view extra limbs via photoshop magic) to Entertainment Tonight in a February interview. "How many hands does Oprah have?" Witherspoon teased while holding Oprah's arms back. "How many legs do I have?"

Beyond the friendships behind the scenes, Wrinkle is also a strong showcase of women. From the start, director Ava DuVernay was adamant about having diversity represented in the cast of her film. It was clear she wanted to celebrate their range in appearance and take the opportunity to put a diverse group of women at the forefront of a major Disney film. "Making sure everyone belongs in the picture was a goal," she said at the Teen Vogue Summit in December.

This goal is certainly captured in her Mrs. characters (played by Winfrey, Witherspoon, and Kaling). "In the book, they look like three kind of, you know, old, white ladies with grey hair. Little grey, white aunties," she said at the Summit. "We wanted to show a variant of age, a variant of body size, a variant of ethnicities and backgrounds — just with those three women."

And fans already seem to be responding; they can't wait to see the new Mrs. together and in action on the big screen.

These fans should be pleasantly surprised. The team of hardworking women join together to tell a strong and important message in A Wrinkle in Time. "This is a great message in this film about: You know what's inside of you... You know what's truly good... All people have that," Witherspoon told ET Canada.

And while they hope the film encourages audiences to embrace the "good" within themselves, it's great to see the cast bringing out the best of each other too.