{"id":92100,"date":"2026-05-07T05:46:55","date_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/padma-lakshmi-details-difficult-dating-life-as-a-single-mom\/"},"modified":"2026-05-07T05:46:55","modified_gmt":"2026-05-07T05:46:55","slug":"padma-lakshmi-details-difficult-dating-life-as-a-single-mom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diyhaven858.wasmer.app\/index.php\/padma-lakshmi-details-difficult-dating-life-as-a-single-mom\/","title":{"rendered":"Padma Lakshmi Details \u2018Difficult\u2019 Dating Life as a Single Mom"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Padma Lakshmi<\/strong> has put dating on the back burner while raising her teenage daughter and continuing to foster her culinary career.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really difficult to navigate, you know, being a single mom and being lucky enough to have the full career that I do and also dating,\u201d Lakshmi, 55, exclusively told Us Weekly<\/em> while promoting America\u2019s Culinary Cup<\/em>. \u201cI think dating at my age is precarious.\u201d<\/p>\n

The America\u2019s Culinary Cup<\/em> host and executive producer confessed she\u2019s \u201cmuch more guarded\u201d about letting someone new into her world now that she\u2019s older.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, do I let this person in my house? Do I ask them for a background check? Like, you know, I\u2019m not sure,\u201d Lakshmi said. \u201cI know that seems rude, but you know, I\u2019m very risk-averse, so it\u2019s difficult.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Padma Lakshmi.<\/span> Noam Galai\/Getty Images for Gold House<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The professional chef confirmed she\u2019s \u201cstill single\u201d before teasing, \u201cI\u2019ll leave it at that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lakshmi noted that aside from being a bit guarded, she has her \u201chands full\u201d working on America\u2019s Culinary Cup<\/em> after publishing her latest cookbook, Padma\u2019s All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond: A Cookbook<\/em>, last November.<\/p>\n

She also told Us<\/em> she\u2019s busy \u201ctaking care of my family and my mother, my daughter,\u201d but that doesn\u2019t mean Lakshmi is done with romance forever.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think when it\u2019s the right time and the right person, it\u2019ll just happen,\u201d she concluded.<\/p>\n

Lakshmi shares her only child, daughter Krishna, 16, with ex Adam Dell<\/strong>, whom she dated following her divorce from Salman Rushdie<\/strong> in 2007. Lakshmi and Dell, 56, dated from 2009 to 2012 before rekindling their romance in 2017. They split for good in 2021.<\/p>\n

While Lakshmi sparked romance rumors with Top Chef<\/em> alum Melissa King<\/strong> in fall 2025, Us<\/em> confirmed in November 2025 that they are \u201cjust close friends.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Krishna Lakshmi-Dell and Padma Lakshmi.<\/span> Bryan Bedder\/Getty Images for CBS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lakshmi, meanwhile, told Us<\/em> earlier this month that she is focused on being a mom and businesswoman more than anything these days.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo two days are alike with a teenager at home. So I never know, you know, what she\u2019s gonna come home from school with,\u201d she shared of life as a single mother. \u201cShe\u2019s very happy. I\u2019m lucky she\u2019s doing well. And you know, it\u2019s a joy to watch her grow every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

When it comes to work, Lakshmi said season 1 of America\u2019s Culinary Cup<\/em> has become like her second baby.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing [I wanted to bring to this show] was really just to give the chefs every ingredient, weapon, appliance that they would need to sort of take away all of the tricks and gimmicks that sometimes [happen] in reality programming,\u201d Lakshmi explained to Us<\/em>. \u201cJust to make it more exciting, we throw obstacles in their way [on other series]. We ask them to cook with children\u2019s instruments or something like that. And I just wanted to see what they could do when it was only about the cooking.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n Suzanne Goin, Padma Lakshmi and Daniela Soto-Innes.<\/span> Jackie Brown\/CBS<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lakshmi said that making the show solely about the contestants\u2019 talents has helped it become the No. 1 food competition show on TV.<\/p>\n

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