After hosting "Top Chef" for nearly two decades, Padma Lakshmi says she knew "it was time to move on," and since saying goodbye to the show has found balance, a new business venture and s fresh perspective on what she's looking for in a potential partner for her next chapter in life.
"You can have it all, but you can't have it all at once," the former reality culinary competition host told Harper's Bazaar in a profile for the magazine's April 2024 issue. "I didn't have a lot of time for a social life. When was I going to find somebody I wanted to hang out with?"
When it comes to relationships, Lakshmi has historically been tight-lipped, but she did reveal to the outlet that she previously dabbled on dating apps while hosting the hit Bravo show.
"When I had my birthday in London in 2022, yet again on set, [designer] Alice Temperley and I were scrolling through her Raya thing, and I'd never seen it," Lakshmi said, referring to the exclusive, membership-based dating app. "[My daughter] Krishna, out of pity, took my phone and applied. She was like, 'Mom, please, you have to do something.'"
The mother and model listed that she was open for anything, interested in men and women, but said she found the app "very white," with would-be matches who were tiring.
"They're always jumping out of a plane, skiing, lying on a yacht, or horseback riding, and then they're brooding, and by the time I'm done scrolling, I'm tired of just looking at you," she told Harper's. Ultimately, she said she deleted the app after four dates.
These days, she said, "I just want to find the male version of me."
"I think when I was young, I was looking for a mentor and a mate perhaps or just felt lost," she said, adding, "It's really hard to find a man who keeps your attention, regardless of age, and that's what I'm looking for now."
Since her departure from "Top Chef" and handing the hosting reigns over to Kristen Kish, the beloved TV host and cookbook author has her sights set on new business ventures including a cookbook.
The model, 53, who appeared in the highly buzzed-about 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue, also spoke to Harper's about creating an intimates line with the online retailer Bare Necessities, which is set to launch in May.
Lakshmi said she has long thought about creating an intimates line, an idea that came further into focus in her 50s as her body changed.
"A lot of the bras that a woman who's much more delicately endowed wears don't work for bigger-busted women, but we still want to be able to wear low-cut blouses and things like that," she said.
She added, "You need [lift] ... If you just use a push-up, you have a line of four inches of cleavage, and that makes you feel square. Nobody wants that."
