Padma Parvati Lakshmi - Indian American TV host and Author

Padma Parvati Lakshmi’s website states: Life is an experience to be savored. This is definitely an adage she lives by. Padma Lakshmi was born on September 1, 1970. She has played many roles very élan, which include professions as diverse as being a model, television hostess, actress and an Indian American cookbook author. Her debut cookery book Easy Exotic won her many accolades, including the prestigious the Best First Book award at the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards (1999). She has also had the honour of co-hosting Top Chef (US-based reality television program) since 2006. Padma Lakshmi was born in Tamil Nadu in a conservative Iyengar Brahmin family. She is her parents' only child from their marriage. After she was born, her parents separated and divorced approximately two years later. Padma Lakshmi she grew up with her grandparents and mother.rnBoth her parents later remarried; she has a younger paternal half-brother and half-sister. Her half sister formerly worked as an actress but is now working with children with special needs. In an interview, Lakshmi was quoted saying: "My father had quit his job as an executive at Pfizer to manage her career. That was kind of like rubbing salt in the wound. I didn't understand why he wanted that relationship with her, and not with me." Lakshmi graduated from Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts, where she received a B.A. (Honors) in Theatre Arts. She speaks English, Tamil, Hindi, Italian and Spanish fluently. Lakshmi began working early when a modeling agent discovered her in Madrid, Spain. She was barely 18 then. Lakshmi used the remuneration to pay off her college loans. After her discovery, there has been just no looking back for Lakshmi. She has appeared on the covers of many magazines like RedBook, Vogue India, FHM, Cosmopolitan, L'Officiel India, Asian Woman, Avenue, Industry Magazine, Marie Claire, Harper's Bazaar, Town & Country, and Newsweek. rnOn April 17, 2004, amidst lot of hullabaloo, Lakshmi married the novelist Salman Rushdie. There was an age gap of 23 years between them. Three years later they divorced. In fact, Rushdie has dedicated a novel (Fury) to her. On October 1, 2009 after years of struggling with a condition that has been associated with infertility (called endometriosis) Lakshmi confirmed that she was expecting. Lakshmi later co-founded The Endometriosis Foundation of America, an organization focusing on increasing awareness about the condition and conducting research on the same. On February 20, 2010, Lakshmi gave birth to a baby girl named Krishna Thea Lakshmi whose father was later known to be Adam Dell (brother of Michael Dell, the founder of computer manufacturing company Dell).