Add model and Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi to the ever-growing list of celebrities launching makeup lines. The 47-year-old stunner recently introduced her own 17-piece capsule collection with MAC. In an interview with BuzzFeed, she noted that cosmetics have the ability to bond women (well, people, actually – it is 2018 after all) together. When it comes to treating oneself, Padma says, “the first thing that is a way for you to feel more beautiful is through makeup.” I believe that 100%.
Padma isn’t only a pretty face, she’s an author, writing three cookbooks and her memoir, Love, Loss and What We Ate, which was released in 2016. The glamazon recently lent her judging skills to RuPaul’s Drag Race, sitting on the judge’s panel for second the episode of the latest season (featuring the “PharmaRusical”), trading quips and holding her own with Ru and co-guest judge Halsey.
*ding ding* Get ready to rumble! @PadmaLakshmi vs. @halsey vs. @michellevisage. #DragRace pic.twitter.com/Te4kEfEEmI
— RuPaul's Drag Race (@RuPaulsDragRace) March 30, 2018
In the BuzzFeed article, Padma discussed beauty, relationships and her struggles with endometriosis, which she was diagnosed with at the age of 36. After her high-profile three-year marriage to author Salman Rushdie, she dated businessman Teddy Forstmann and venture capitalist Adam Dell, who is father to her eight-year-old daughter, Krishna. Judging by her life experiences, she seems an authority on all three of these topics. Here are some highlights from the interview:
On body image
In many ways, I feel more beautiful now at 47 than I did, certainly at 25 or 27. I’m sure my body was better back then because of, well, nature. At this point in my life, of course, I care about what I look like. I go to the gym, I make sure I have a nice outfit on or whatever. But all of that is less important to me than what I stand for and how I affect other people.On her endometriosis
I went through this for 23 years. I got my period when I was 13, and I didn’t get a proper diagnosis until I was 36. So 23 years, 12 months a year, one week out of each of those months — do the math. I was in bed, I was taking really heavy prescription pain medication, I was using a heating pad, I was having acupuncture, I was drinking teas, I was doing breathing exercises. Anything and everything I could. And if your mother or sister has it, you are seven times as likely to have it. And because you’re used to seeing them in pain, you just expect it as your lot in life. And that’s what my mother told me when she had that conversation. She said, “You know, some women get it, some women don’t. It’s just our lot in life….Try not to let it affect more of your life than it has to.”“What’s the greatest advice you could give someone in a relationship?”
That’s hard. The one thing I would say is put yourself first, and determine whether the person you’re with is someone you would stop doing everything for. I know that seems contradictory. Because if they’re not, and if you really don’t love them enough, don’t waste your time. At the end of the day, you want someone who supports you and who wants the best for you; not just the best for the relationship. And that should be true for yourself too. We all tend to stay in relationships too long because we want it to work. You know within the first six months of a relationship whether it’s gonna work or not. And maybe it can work at another time because you guys will be mature and at a different stage. Wait till that other time. Don’t stick with that person.
Pretty sage advice, if you ask me. I know I’m not the only one who stuck around in a rudderless union hoping things would change, and when they didn’t, you ended up feeling like you had wasted precious time. For those of you, like me, who believe it’s not just makeup that makes Padma such a beauty, she shared with PEOPLE that a little sun prevention and a healthy diet can go a long way. She revealed, “I really didn’t take sun or at least, not without a lot of sunblock. And I eat 50 percent fruits and vegetables, fruits and vegetables of all colors. That really, really makes a difference.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go eat a salad in the shade.
Photos: WENN.com, Instagram
Thats sooo true, wasted a lot of time so far 🤷🏻♀️
I agree. I don’t know if it’s because I’m older now or because I know myself better now or both. But yes 6 months is enough time to know if you should move forward or end it.
I was at an endometriosis conference w her. She is gorgeous, great figure not to thin but par for the course has some filler and Botox. Are forehead and between eyes is frozen.
I still remembered when she tried to pass off Dell’s child as belonging to another man, and he had to fight to get shared custody of that child. Sleeping with both men or just vindictive.
I’m not saying she is a gold digger.
If she tried to pass off Dell’s child as someone else’s and offered to pass up on his millions, she’d definitely not a gold digger.
Except IIRC the guy she was trying to pass off as Dell’s child was as wealthy, or wealthier, than Dell. And that guy also either left much of his estate or set up a ginormous trust fund for the child that wasn’t his too.
A lot of people think they know in the first six seconds of looking at a photo on a dating site.
Her memoir was amazing. I coincidentally read it right around the time I was diagnosed w endo, not realizing she had it too.
Love her, she’s gorgeous
I find her a unique person.
Aside from a stunningly beautiful woman, she had to overcome blatant rejection issues of her father, fight of Endo .
Also I love how she dresses her daughter in Cute Indian dresses
I agree. Life is too short to be playing games and stringing someone along.
I disagree, too hard to sort out what’s real and what’s not when the sex haze is still so strong.
Preach!
All I think you know in the first six months of dating someone is that you are willing to date them another six months. It takes over a year to really learn what someone is like and if you are compatible enough to make a go at it. So many women get pregnant at the beginning stages of a relationship (6 months) only to find out that he is not the man whom you thought her was.
Agreed.
Totally agree. Six months is not nearly long enough to know. I’ve read that it can take up to two years for the “honeymoon phase” to end, which is then when you see what the person is really like.
I find her so gorgeous and believe she gets more beautiful as the years go by.
I agree with her, honestly. Nearly every person I know who wound up divorced within the first ten years are people who blatantly overlooked red flags that destroyed the relationship later on when the glamour wore off. There are rare cases where incidents occur that radically change people and undermine a marriage, but for the most part, if you’re perceptive enough, you can pick up on what issues will arise later based on how they handle things. My biggest advice is to people is to never marry somebody who has never been tasted by life. A lot of the things that could lead to divorce later (family death, disability, poverty, illness, etc.) can be predicted by how well they handle dramatic circumstances now.
Agree. The red flags are always there. No one can ever blind side you. In retrospect, you can see very clearly who they really were.
I like her interpretation on relationships, but I disagree that you know in the first six months. I think you actually know nothing. Have you seen that person get angry? Cry? How they handle a set back? All these things are the deeper signs of their character and integrity. When someone tells me they just “know,” I tend to side eye. It takes years to know someone. And it’s never a waste of time!!
Yes. I spent 5 years being strung along by a guy who wasn’t really sure he wanted us to be serious; yet , my husband was asking me 6 months into our relationship if I would marry him. Man the years wasted on my ex. Ugh!!
This is timely because I just watched Padma’s episode on First We Feast on youtube where she ate hot chicken wings and answered questions. It’s a fun watch for those who have never seen the show. (Tyra Banks’ and Rachey Ray’s episodes were great, too. lol)