I’m an immigrant kid who came to America from India when I was very young and grew up in New York City with a single mom and really was influenced by all of those immigrant cultures bumping up against each other.
— Padma Lakshmi
This single quote by Padma Lakshmi pretty much sums up the model, the actor, the mother – and the phenomenon that is Padma Lakshmi.
Born on September 1, 1970, in Chennai, India, Lakshmi shifted to the United States when she was just four years old and lived with her mother after her parents got divorced.
One of her many talents is that she is a multilingual – she can speak English, Spanish, Italian, Hindi and Tamil.
Padma Lakshmi, who in her growing-up years lived with her mother and step-father and shuttled between New York and Los Angeles, would go to India for a few months every year to visit her family and connect to her roots.
She plans to continue this tradition with her daughter, and recently took her to India to spend some quality time in her homeland.
Padma Lakshmi has written a cookbook entitled Easy Exotic, which has a collection of recipes that consolidate the flavours of Asian, Italian and Indian cuisine.
Padma is an excellent chef herself and loves food.
Padma Lakshmi welcomed her first child, her daughter Krishna, in 2010.
She is a devoted mother and loves to spend quality time with her daughter.
In an interview to Celebrity Baby Scoop, after Krishna was born, she spoke of how “motherhood was a humbling experience for her” and had “changed her life”.
After a much-publicised divorce from Salman Rushdie, Padma Lakshmi bounced back to become the host of the hit reality television show Top Chef .
Padma is an accomplished food writer and a cook. She loves to eat and enjoys her meats.
The actor, in fact, had her own show called Padma’s Passport on The Food Network, during which she travelled around the world and cooked different cuisines.
Padma shares a close bond with her mother and has, on more than one occasion, confessed to being a Mama’s girl. Her mother Vijaya was a nurse when she went to the States.
While she was in Spain studying, a modelling scout caught a glimpse of her at a bar in Madrid. Not too long after, Padma was travelling around the world and modelling for designers like Ralph Lauren, Armani and Versace.
Despite the notoriously short shelf life of people in showbiz, Padma Lakshmi has found her niche and continues to win the hearts of millions around the world.
(This story was first published on 1 September 2015. It has been reposted from The Quint’s archives to mark Padma Lakshmi’s 47th birthday.)
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