Who

An ex-model and the ex-wife of novelist Salman Rushdie, Lakshmi is an author, the host of Bravo's Top Chef, and an aspiring brand name.

Backstory

Born in New Delhi, Padma moved to New York at the age of four to live with her mother, who had relocated stateside after divorcing Padma's father, an executive at Pfizer. Mother and daughter spent more than a decade living on the Upper East Side before moving to the outskirts of Los Angeles, where her mother worked as a nurse. After graduating high school, Padma headed off to college at Clark and signed up as a theater major; her big break arrived during her junior year abroad when a modeling agent spotted her at a Madrid bar.

Lakshmi spent the mid-1990s as a reasonably successful Indian-American model in the mostly-white fashion world, walking the catwalk for labels like Versace, Ralph Lauren, and Armani. Her profile on the scene received a boost when Helmut Newton photographed her for a calendar and several ad campaigns, and in the late '90s she started to transition to TV, signing on as the host of a popular Italian variety show called Dominica Re.

Lakshmi eventually returned to the States and exploited her passion for cooking, publishing a cookbook called Easy Exotic: A Model's Low-Fat Recipes from Around the World. The book's strong sales—not to mention Lakshmi's exotic looks and aggressive marketing efforts—prompted the Food Network to give her a show, Padma's Passport, which debuted in 2001. But she didn't become a bonafide celebrity until 2006, when Bravo hired her to host Top Chef alongside head judge Tom Colicchio, after the notoriously robotic Season 1 hostess (and fellow trophy wife) Katie Lee Joel got the ax.

Of note

Lakshmi's role on Top Chef vaulted her into the big leagues and she's taking full advantage. As part of an effort to turn her fame into a full-fledged brand, in late 2007 she inked a major marketing deal with IMG, and is working on lines of jewelry, clothing, and cookware. Also in 2007 she authored another cookbook, Tangy Tart Hot and Sweet, published by Harvey Weinstein's Weinstein Books. (Weinstein's Miramax Books was responsible for her first book.) Padma's also moving into movie production. With Rick Schwartz, a former Miramax exec who produced The Departed and The Aviator, Lakshmi is adapting Jhumpa Lahiri's Interpreter of Maladies for the big screen. In addition to serving as a producer on the film, she'll also be making an appearance on camera.

For the record

As Top Chef viewers are well aware, Lakshmi has a seven-inch scar running down her right arm, the result of a violent car crash that happened in Malibu when she was 14. Lakshmi wrote about the injury in a 2001 Vogue piece entitled "Almost Flawless," describing it as her "trademark."

Personal

Lakshmi met author Salman Rushdie at the 1999 Liberty Island launch party of Tina Brown's Talk. She introduced herself to Rushdie, and he stunned her by proceeding to rattle off a list of facts he already knew about her. (As it turned out, he'd been infatuated with her since he'd read a magazine profile of her years before.) Padma became the fourth Mrs. Rushdie in April 2004, when Rushdie was 56 and she was just 32. Three years later, after months of rumors that their marriage was on the rocks, the couple announced they were divorcing. She's since been linked to a series of older billionaires, including Ted Forstmann—the buyout mogul who also happens to own IMG, the agency that represents her—and Adam Dell, the venture capitalist and brother of Dell founder Michael Dell.

True story

Lakshmi had a part in Glitter, Mariah Carey's 2001 biopic embarrassment. She played a tone-deaf singer named Sylk.