--- title: Mindy Kaling Talks Working With Rihanna on Ocean's 8 description: After sending out a selfie to her Ocean's 8 group text on Ellen, Mindy Kaling shared a hilarious anecdote about Rihanna. canonical: https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-06-04T19:47:42.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:53:13.191Z og:title: Let Mindy Kaling Tell You What Working With Rihanna Is Like og:description: The two star together in the soon-to-hit-theaters Ocean's 8 og:url: https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8eb51d7be4f72a/6989323bbc6cfcc0923e61de/screen-shot-2018-06-04-at-1-34-32-pm.png?branch=production&width=1110&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1110 og:image:height: 624 og:image:alt: Mindy-Kaling-Ellen-DeGeneres og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Let Mindy Kaling Tell You What Working With Rihanna Is Like twitter:description: The two star together in the soon-to-hit-theaters Ocean's 8 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8eb51d7be4f72a/6989323bbc6cfcc0923e61de/screen-shot-2018-06-04-at-1-34-32-pm.png?branch=production&width=1110&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Mindy Kaling Has All Your Answers on What Working With Rihanna on _Ocean's 8_ Was Like > Sponsored content. 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It curates the day's top headlines with TIME's reporting and analysis across politics, world affairs, business, health and culture. It is free to join at time.com/newsletters. #### How do I sign up for The Brief? The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-brief-2026q3/newsletters?i=bba65558-764f-4d2e-976a-903652f6e0aa&cr=time-nl-brief-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 4, 2018 7:47 PM UTC  NBC  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Jun 4, 2018 7:47 PM UTC After sending out a selfie to her [_Ocean’s 8_](http://time.com/5238080/oceans-8-new-trailer-reactions-tweets/)group text during a Monday appearance on _The_ _Ellen DeGeneres Show_, [Mindy Kaling](http://time.com/5179847/oprah-baby-gift-mindy-kaling/) answered a question about her co-stars that was probably on every viewer’s mind: What’s it like to work with [Rihanna](http://time.com/5276362/rihanna-royal-wedding/)? Kaling stars alongside Rih—as well as Sandra Bullock, Cate Blanchett, Sarah Paulson, Helena Bonham Carter, Awkwafina and Anne Hathaway—in the forthcoming all-female reboot of the original _Ocean’s_ trilogy, prompting DeGeneres to inquire about the _ANTI_\-singer’s presence on set. “She was amazing and I’m so intimidated of her. Because I feel like movie stars are here and pop stars are here,” Kaling explained, raising her hand to a higher level. “Because they can do whatever they want and no one thinks it’s crazy or weird. So when I met Rihanna I was like, ‘Hi Rihanna, it’s great to meet you.’ And like on the third day, I’d go up to Rihanna and be like, ‘Hey Rihanna, it’s Mindy Kaling,’ and she’s like, ‘I _know_, we’re in a movie together.'” However, Kaling went on to say that she and Rih eventually got closer—or at least she thinks they did. “She remembers my name I think,” Kaling added. “So I think we’re good friends.” Watch the full clip below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/"},"headline":"Mindy Kaling Has All Your Answers on What Working With Rihanna on Ocean's 8 Was Like","datePublished":"2018-06-04T19:47:42.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:53:13.191Z","description":"\"I'm so intimidated of her\"","url":"https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Ellen Degeneres","TV","Mindy Kaling","The Ellen Degeneres Show"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8eb51d7be4f72a/6989323bbc6cfcc0923e61de/screen-shot-2018-06-04-at-1-34-32-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt0b8eb51d7be4f72a/6989323bbc6cfcc0923e61de/screen-shot-2018-06-04-at-1-34-32-pm.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Mindy-Kaling-Ellen-DeGeneres","caption":"","creditText":"NBC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5300545/mindy-kaling-ellen-rihanna-oceans-8/","name":"Mindy Kaling Has All Your Answers on What Working With Rihanna on Ocean's 8 Was Like"}}]}] ```