Padma Lakshmi says she has reached her “sexual peak” at the age of 53, after her traditional upbringing in a “very conservative South Indian family.”
After freeing herself from expectations, the former Top Chef host said she feels “great” about embracing her age and sexuality.
“Look, I’m at my sexual peak,” she said We weekly on Wednesday while promoting her Bare Necessities collaboration. ‘Let’s just say what it is. I am. And I have a great feeling about that. I don’t care what anyone thinks.’
She continued, “I don’t care what my mom thinks unless she’s very supportive.”
The mother of one explained that she previously “really lived in fear” of the judgment of others and was “terrified” that her “grandfather would see those photos of Helmut Newton.”
Padma Lakshmi revealed that she feels she has reached her ‘sexual peak’ at the age of 53 after her traditional upbringing in a ‘very conservative South Indian family’
‘But I am free from that. “I just didn’t meet their expectations at all,” she explained.
Although she says she weighs about 35 pounds more than she did at age 23, Lakshmi said she feels “so much sexier.”
‘I love it. I wouldn’t want to go back to that body,” the model insisted. “I like to say I’m 53… and people say, ‘Oh, you don’t look like you’re 53.’ And I’m like, “No. This is also what 53 looks like.”‘
The star also noted that she recently went from bra size 34C to 36DD, which she said she “wasn’t prepared for.”
“I have beautiful dresses in my closet that don’t button that now I just have to wait for my daughter to fit into them and it breaks my heart,” the cookbook author admitted.
She continues, “But when I was looking for bras that fit the new me, it was really hard to find something that did what I needed but also didn’t look matronly. When I saw these bras I thought, ‘I don’t want to wear that.’ That’s not who I am.”
“Our culture really has a way of telling women that there’s a narrow window and a narrow size or a narrow appearance that you have to see to feel attractive, and that’s completely nonsense,” she reflected.
As she gets older, Lakshmi says she enjoys becoming “more feisty” and “loser” about [her] tongue.’
After freeing herself from the expectations of her loved ones, the former Top Chef host said she feels ‘great’ about embracing her age and sexuality
“Look, I’m at my sexual peak,” she told Us Weekly on Wednesday while promoting her Bare Necessities collaboration. ‘Let’s just say what it is. I am. And I have a great feeling about that. I don’t care what anyone thinks’
She continued, “I don’t care what my mom thinks unless she’s very supportive.”
While talking about her decision to just say “everything” in her 2016 memoir, Love, Loss and What We Ate, the TV personality explained that “everything took away the power.”
“No one could say anything about me that I hadn’t said about myself,” she explained.
Lakshmi raved that it is “so liberating” that she doesn’t care what others think of her.
Speaking about her lingerie line, the bombshell hopes those who wear it ‘feel happy, confident and comfortable’.
The mother-of-one explained that she previously “really lived in fear” of others’ judgment and was “terrified” that her “grandfather would see those Helmut Newton photos.”
‘But I am free from that. “I just didn’t meet their expectations at all,” she explained
Although she says she weighs about 35 pounds more than she did at age 23, Lakshmi said she feels ‘so much sexier’
“No matter how beautiful you look, if you’re not comfortable, you won’t look beautiful,” she reminded her fans. ‘I want people to reach for these things, wear them, feel good, and then go on and do the things that are really important in life, like falling in love, doing the projects they want, being with their children, dancing until they… midnight.”
Lakshmi shares her daughter, Krishna, 10, with businessman Adam Dell, whom she dated on and off from 2009 to 2021.
Prior to their relationship, she was married to Salman Rushdie from 2004 to 2007.
Over the years, she has also been romantically linked to Richard Gere, Vikram Chatwal, Theodore Forstmann, Nur Khan and Terrance Hayes.
When asked in April if she was dating or single, the reality star said this was a “who knows” area of her life.
Lakshmi seen in a red bikini during a trip to Miami in 2019
‘I love it. I wouldn’t want to go back to that body,” the model (pictured in 1997) insisted
“Everything is so open and free, non-existent or new,” she told Harper’s Bazaar, laughing. “What I’m saying is that I have nothing concrete to say!”
She then revealed that she had tried dating app Raya, after saying her teenager downloaded the app ‘out of pity’ for her.
She chose to mention that she was “interested in men and women,” but ultimately found the app “very white” and draining men on it.
“They’re always jumping out of a plane, skiing, lying on a yacht, or riding a horse, and then they’re worrying, and by the time I’m done scrolling, I’m tired of just looking at you,” admitted them.
The star also noted that she had recently gone from bra size 34C to 36DD, which she said she ‘wasn’t prepared for’ (seen in 1992)
Lakshmi was previously married to Salman Rushdie from 2004 to 2007 (seen above in 2001)
Lakshmi said she matched with an Italian man living in Tokyo, who would correct her “long, old-fashioned letters” via email.
‘I really started to like him. When his letters came, sometimes I didn’t read them because I wanted to keep them and enjoy them,” she confessed.
After traveling to Japan, she suggested they meet in real life.
“We kind of kissed in the back of the car, not even kissing, just leaning on each other’s shoulders. It was very Lost in Translation,” she said of the short-lived affair.
After returning to New York, she said things fizzled after a few more emails.
After going on three more dates through Raya, she said she deleted the app.
“I just want to find the male version of me,” she said.