Padma Lakshmi is sharing how she sweetens the holidays.
The “Top Chef” alum, 54, revealed the ingredients she uses to create a magical time with her 14-year-old daughter Krishna, over Christmas.
“Being in my pajamas and building ginger bread houses,” Lakshmi exclusively told The Post at Vulture Fest. “Decorating the tree and making cider.”
The model shares Krishna with ex Adam Dell and has been vocal in the past about motherhood and the close bond she has with her mini-me.
“I took her off of social media, and I have controls on her phone,” Lakshmi confessed to Today in May, adding that she’s sure Krishna scrolls online on other people’s phones.
“It is hard, as any parent will tell you, to combat all of the influential forces that prey upon a child’s mind, whether you are male or female,” admitted the food connoisseur. “It’s worse for girls, of course, but I try to combat that.”
Reflecting on her career, Lakshmi recognizes it could come with challenges for her only child.
“She also has a mother that does fittings, and tries to fit into Emmy dresses. She also has a mother who’s in Sports Illustrated,” she continued. “That’s not easy for her. And I’m very cognizant of that.”
Lakshmi said she tries to separate Krishna from that world.
“I have kept her as away from this as I can. Because there’ll be time for her to have it,” she noted. “But I need her to focus on her education, on her talent, on her skills as a musician or whatever she wants to do with her own life.”
Lakshmi echoed her own sentiments while talking to People earlier that month.
“I’m strict about some things and I’m not that strict about other things that I probably should be stricter about like bedtime [as] she’s 14,” she explained to the outlet.
“But I was very strict was about making sure she ate a very good diet the first four, five years of her life, and I will not abide by her being disrespectful to adults,” the TV star continued. “She’s not [disrespectful], but that’s where our Asian culture shows itself is in things like that — respecting our traditions like taking your shoes off before you come in the house, and calling elders uncle and auntie.”
Lakshmi had an on- and off-again relationship with Dell from 2009 to 2021. She kept the paternity private at first, but found the media speculation around who the father was “mortifying.”
“It certainly was icky when the press started snooping around in various countries — not just America, but in India, England, Australia,” she recalled on People’s “Me Becoming Mom” podcast back in 2021.
These days, the mother-daughter duo are tighter than ever, with Lakshmi wishing her daughter a happy birthday in a touching tribute.
“My dear sweet girl! I can’t believe it’s been 13 years since I gave birth,” she wrote in part on Instagram in 2023, alongside a video montage of the pair. “Willing yourself into this world, you’ve been the greatest joy of my life. Of course I love you with all my heart but I also really like you! You have a wicked sense of humor. There’s no one I’d rather spend time with, no one I’d rather laugh with or cry with.”
Lakshmi concluded the sweet post, “Light of my life, you keep me grounded and sane and never let me take myself too seriously. Happy 13th birthday to my favorite teenager!!”
