Earlier than Padma Lakshmi's shut friendship with chef Melissa King raised eyebrows, the writer make clear her sexuality in an excerpt from her 2016 memoir.
Lakshmi, 55, recalled in Love, Loss and What We Ate that in her modeling days in Milan and Paris she “acted out my curiosities and fantasies,” one among which was having a short affair with a lady.
“Some I remorse, however not all, like figuring out what it's like to the touch and be touched by a lady,” she wrote through the New York Daily News.
Lakshmi additional touched upon her sexual exploration throughout a Q&A session with Andy Cohen in March 2016.
“It was the primary time I used to be far-off from house and I used to be surrounded by probably the most stunning ladies on the planet,” she recalled of the expertise. “I'm not sorry. It was the primary time I used to be an grownup. I used to be experimenting with my sexuality.”
The Prime Chef host remembered, “I by no means had had an emotional, romantic relationship with a lady. However I'm not sorry. It was a good looking expertise. It occurred just a few occasions and that's it.”
Regardless of Lakshmi's hookup revelation, she has traditionally dated males, together with Salman Rushie, whom she was married to from 2004 to 2007. The Padma's Passport and Planet Meals host later dated late billionaire Teddy Forstmann in 2009 whereas romancing Adam Dell.
Lakshmi welcomed her solely little one, daughter Krishna, in February 2010, and started elevating her with Forstmann. Previous to Forstmann's dying in November 2011 on the age of 71, Dell was revealed to be Krishna's father. Lakshmi and Dell, 55, rekindled their romance in 2017, however she confirmed in 2021 that she was single.
Final month, Lakshmi precipitated a stir when she and season 17 Prime Chef winner King, 42, appeared very cozy whereas dressed up because the couple's costume Morticia and Gomez Addams for Halloween. Two of their different pals joined them as Wednesday Addams and Lurch from The Addams Household.
“I might die for her. I might kill for her. 🥀🖤- Gomez Paddams,” King wrote alongside an Instagram video from the vacation on November 1.
She captioned a second upload of photos with Lakshmi, “Cara Mia! 🥀,” which is the Italian phrase for “my expensive.”
Days previous to their group costume reveal, Lakshmi gushed about her friendship with King and some different former Prime Chef contestants.
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“Melissa is any person whose cooking I all the time beloved,” Lakshmi instructed People on October 28. “She's enjoyable and we get pleasure from one another's firm. She tends to be my plus one generally so individuals will see us on the crimson carpet collectively.”
Earlier this month, King was by Lakshmi's aspect on the launch occasion for her new guide, Padma's All American Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Style the Nation and Past: A Cookbook.
In a video shared through the DelishYES Instagram account on November 4, Lakshmi was noticed laughing with King because the Cook dinner Like a King writer sat on her lap and positioned her hand on Lakshmi's arm.
Us Weekly beforehand reached out to Lakshmi and King's reps for remark.
The duo fueled hypothesis that their friendship was not strictly platonic days later, as they filmed a cooking video collectively. Through the Sunday, November 9, Instagram clip, King joked that Lakshmi's nails “are so homosexual proper now.”
Lakshmi began to giggle, replying, “Cease beginning rumors.”
