Padma Lakshmi became a household name with Top Chef. From model to cookbook author to
business mogul, it took a great deal of brains and determination to get Lakshmi to the top
of the fashion and cooking worlds. So how did Padma Lakshmi become the face of food
television?
Padma Lakshmi was born in Chennai, India, and was just two years old when her parents
divorced. Divorce was stigmatized in India at the time, so in order to get away from
the hostility, Lakshmi's mother moved to the United States, where she worked as a nurse.
Lakshmi initially stayed behind in India with her maternal grandparents, but at four years
old, she flew halfway around the world to join her mother.
"You left India early though, right?”
“I did, I left when I was four, my mother had a very turbulent arranged marriage. She
came to New York."
The pair settled in New York City, a move that would prove extremely beneficial to Lakshmi's
future. While growing up in her new melting-pot home, Lakshmi regularly ate foods she had
never tried before, which helped create her lifelong love affair with food.
Lakshmi would eventually move to Los Angeles with her mother and stepfather, and she visited
India each year to see her family.
We've seen her enjoying every type of meat under the sun on Top Chef, but Lakshmi was
raised on a strict vegetarian diet, or as she described it, a "lacto-vegetarian Hindu
Brahmin diet." Lakshmi told NPR that her diet consisted of plenty of beans, lentils, and
vegetables as a child, and she didn't start eating meat until she was a teenager.
Although she is no longer a vegetarian, Lakshmi does try to stick to a plant-based diet whenever
she's not eating Top Chef contestants' dishes. The former model told HuffPost about her diet,
saying:
"[It] makes your skin more beautiful [and affects] your hair, your eyesight. All of
those things."
According to Distractify, Lakshmi is such a proponent of the plant-based diet that she
keeps suggesting an all-vegetarian season of Top Chef.
One of the most transformational moments in Padma Lakshmi's life occurred when she was
just 14. During a car ride with her parents, the vehicle suddenly went off the freeway
and fell 40 feet into an embankment. All three passengers survived, but Lakshmi suffered
a fractured hip and shattered right arm. The surgeries after the accident left her with
a seven-inch-long and half-inch-wide scar on her upper arm.
For a long time, Lakshmi was self-conscious about the scar. She would often cover it with
makeup, and even perfected a cross-armed pose that hid it. In an essay for The Guardian,
Lakshmi detailed how she was sure the scar would ruin any chance she had at becoming
a model. She wrote:
"Now that I had a caterpillar of scarred skin crawling down my arm, it seemed ridiculous
to imagine that any agency would be interested in such an imperfect specimen."
But the scar would help Lakshmi elevate her modeling. She got noticed by famous photographer
Helmut Newton, who helped take Lakshmi's career to another level. She told Playboy:
"He loved my scar, and by extension he made me think differently about myself. All of
a sudden it was something to celebrate or at least not to be ashamed of. Everything
in life shapes you."
After she caught the eye of legendary photographer Helmut Newton, Padma Lakshmi's modeling career
quickly took off. She began modeling for well known luxury brands including Armani, Versace
and Ralph Lauren, and worked in the fashion capitals of the world, including New York,
Milan, and Paris. Lakshmi also became known as "India's first supermodel."
Lakshmi has mixed feelings about her time in modeling, according to PBS NewsHour. It
allowed her to travel and see the world, but her modeling career never felt personally
rewarding. Lakshmi said:
"I know that my looks are really the alchemy of my parents' genetics and have little to
do with me or any accomplishment of my own."
Padma Lakshmi's modeling career eventually led to auditioning for acting roles. It seems
like a natural next step, considering she studied theater and American literature in
college.
Lakshmi appeared in a few Italian television series before nabbing a role in the Mariah
Carey movie, Glitter. Though it's widely considered one of the worst movies of all time, Lakshmi
has no shame about taking the job. She said:
"Oh, the money. Had Steven Spielberg called me with the script to a modern Citizen Kane,
I'd have done that, but as an actress starting out, you don't get to choose.The thing is,
it was fun. What's important to know about Mariah Carey is that nobody can sing the way
she does."
Lakshmi had bit parts in a few other movies and television shows after that, but eventually,
she left acting behind for greener pastures.
Padma Lakshmi entered the field that would eventually make her a household name when
she published her first cookbook, Easy Exotic: A Model's Low-Fat Recipes from Around the
World, in 1999.
The transition from modeling to cookbook author may seem like an odd one, but Lakshmi had
been preparing for it most her life. According to NPR, she would carry a notebook with her
to jot down recipes for relatives' dishes, and spent any extra money she had on cookbooks.
To get her book deal, she cooked one of her recipes, put it in a Tupperware dish, took
a flight to New York to her publisher's office, and told the executive to eat it that night.
The rest is history.
The cookbook would become a bestseller and win the "Best First Book" award at the 1999
Gourmand World Cookbook Awards. In 2007, Lakshmi released her second book, Tangy Tart Hot & Sweet,
a collection of simple, sophisticated international recipes.
Though she had built a successful career as a model, author and host, Padma Lakshmi didn't
really hit it big until 2006, when she took over hosting duties on Top Chef during its
second season, replacing original host Katie Lee Joel.
Although she had hosted food shows before, Lakshmi suffered from a case of imposter syndrome
when she first joined the cooking competition show. It was a world-famous chef that gave
her a confidence boost. She said:
"I heard Eric Ripert say to another chef, 'No, Padma has a really sensitive palate,
like one of the most sensitive palates of anyone I've ever met!' [...] Any time I felt
insecure or insufficient, which I did a lot on that set, all I had to do was rely on what
I did know rather than what I didn't know."
Hiring Lakshmi proved to be a good move for the show. Ratings increased during her first
season hosting, and Top Chef was nominated for an Emmy. Three years later, the show took
home the award.
Padma Lakshmi may have a large platform to speak her mind on Top Chef, but she is determined
to have her voice heard as far as it can travel when it comes to fighting for causes she believes
in.
Lakshmi has never been shy of throwing her support behind those she feels have been disenfranchised,
including immigrants like herself and refugees.
"Equal rights means equal right for everyone in our country, even those who are not necessarily
citizens."
But much of the self-described feminist's activism has centered around women's rights.
A friend of Lakshmi's told Glamour:
"She is 100 percent about supporting women, and she's been doing it since before everyone
woke up to that. She's never been afraid to tackle painful subjects. I think it's because
she faced so much growing up. It's almost like she's speaking up for the young Padmas
out there."
Lakshmi's efforts include walking in the 2017 Women's March on Washington and working with
the American Civil Liberties Union and the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Business ventures
If there's anything we've learned about Padma Lakshmi, it's that she is far more than a
pretty face — she has the brains and business savvy to match. In fact, it's hard to keep
track of just how many business ventures Lakshmi has on her resume.
In the culinary world, Lakshmi has continued to write about her life and food. In 2016,
she published a food memoir entitled Love, Loss, and What We Ate, which became a New
York Times bestseller and won the "Best Lifestyle, Body & Soul" award at the Gourmand World Cookbook
Awards. That same year she also released The Encyclopedia of Spices & Herbs. Lakshmi also
owns Padma's Easy Exotic, a line of frozen rices, lentils, and other international foods.
Lakshmi has been pretty busy outside of the kitchen, too. She started her own home décor
line called The Padma Collection, created a capsule collection with MAC Cosmetics, and
introduced her own jewelry line for HSN. And to add to her TV credits, Lakshmi launched
a Hulu show, Taste the Nation, in 2019.
The biggest transformation in Padma Lakshmi's adult life was when she gave birth to daughter
Krishna Thea Lakshmi in February 2010.
Krishna's father is Adam Dell, the brother of Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell. He and
Lakshmi have had their ups and downs over the years. The year after Krishna was born,
Dell sued Lakshmi for full custody, but the couple are now reconciled and share custody
of their daughter.
Krishna takes after her mother in the kitchen. Lakshmi told People:
"Krishna has her own mortar and pestle. She just sits on the counter with me and actually
helps. She is much better than me at rolling out dough. Because she has these little delicate
fingers and she can get the dough really nice and even and flat. She's a great cook."
Another thing mom and daughter have in common? An attraction to the limelight. Krishna takes
music lessons several times per week and wants to be a pop star. But Lakshmi, like a true
mom, says she wants her daughter to go to college first.
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