While Padma Lakshmi is most known for her activism and culinary prowess, the television host and author is also known for her high-profile romances.
Lakshmi was briefly married to author Salman Rushdie, a relationship that both parties discussed in their respective memoirs. In 2009, she was locked in a tough custody battle with ex Adam Dell, the father of her daughter, Krishna, while also dating Theodore Frostmann.
After being romantically linked with Terrance Hayes in 2021, Lakshmi went on to spark dating rumors with Top Chef season 17 winner Melissa King, after the pair wore corresponding Addams Family-themed Halloween Costumes in October 2025. (King went as Gomez Addams, while Lakshmi dressed as his wife, Morticia Addams.)
“Melissa is somebody whose cooking I always loved,” Lakshmi told People on October 28, two days before the pair’s seemingly coupled-up costumes. “She’s fun and we enjoy each other’s company. She tends to be my plus one sometimes so people will see us on the red carpet together.”
Lakshmi later appeared to acknowledge the dating rumors, telling King during an Instagram cooking video to “stop spreading rumors” days after King was seen sitting in Laksmi’s lap during a book release party.
Us Weekly reached out to reps for both Laksmi and King for comment at the time.
In her 2016 memoir, Lakshmi recalled engaging in relationships with women when she was modeling in Milan and Paris.
“Some I regret, but not all, like knowing what it’s like to touch and be touched by a woman,” she wrote. She further opened up about the time she spent exploring her sexuality in 2016 while speaking to Andy Cohen.
“It was the first time I was far away from home and I was surrounded by the most beautiful women in the world,” she said at the time. “I’m not sorry. It was the first time I was an adult. I was experimenting with my sexuality.”
Keep scrolling for Lakshmi’s dating history:
Salman Rushdie
Lakshmi and Rushie were first romantically linked in 1999, going on to say “I do” in 2004. The marriage lasted three years, each discussing their own version of what they claim went wrong in the relationship via their respective memoirs. The pair divorced in 2007.
In her 2016 book Love, Loss and What We Ate, Lakshmi insisted that her relentless endometriosis pain contributed to the breakdown of the relationship, and that Rushdie accused her of using the chronic disease as an excuse to not have sex. In his own 2012 memoir Joseph Anton, Rushdie accused Lakshmi of being unable to accept that he also has a spotlight on his own career and work.
Adam Dell
Dell, brother of the founder of the Dell computer company, and Lakshmi began dating in 2009. The TV host later opened up about why it might not have been the best decision to move on so quickly after her divorce from Rushdie.
“I didn’t want to be in a serious relationship,” she told former Today host Matt Lauer. “I was still really hurting from my divorce. I probably shouldn’t have been with anybody and just taken the time I needed for myself. But I was presented with two very different, very interesting men. Men do it all the time. I chose to do it, and I was open with the men involved.”
Lakshmi became pregnant with her daughter Krishna while dating Dell, and a prenatal paternity test ultimately revealed he was the baby’s father. The pair entered into a custody battle that was settled out of court in 2012. They also resumed their relationship in 2017, but called it quits for good in 2021 when Lakshmi confirmed she was single.
Theodore Frostmann
Lakshmi and Frostmann, formerly the head of IMG, were linked in 2009, when she was also dating Adam Dell. Lakshmi conceived her daughter Krishna while she was involved with both men, and attempted to begin her family with Frostmann as the father. A paternity test later revealed Krishna’s biological father to be Dell, and the parties entered into a custody battle. Frostmann died in 2011 at age 71 and reportedly left a trust fund of nearly $2 billion to Krishna.
“Teddy was this conservative, Republican, Catholic church-going, golf-playing [guy] and you know, I am this bleeding heart liberal,” Lakshmi told People in 2016. “I don’t know which end of the golf club is up.”
She continued, “Here is the very epitome of establishment but he was kind of an outlier. He had a different way of doing things. He did not take himself too seriously, which is refreshing in someone who is that accomplished. He was really humble. He had self confidence. He had swagger. He was a man with a huge ego but he wore his uniqueness lightly.”
After his death, Frostmann was described to the International Business Times as having been “carrying out the role of father since the moment Krishna was delivered into his arms.”
Richard Gere
Lakshmi briefly dated Gere for two months in 2014. In 2016, she told People and Entertainment Weekly’s Jess Cagle that“Richard is a really nice, sweet man.”
”He was the first person I dated [after Teddy] and he was very nice to [my daughter] Krishna,” she added. “But I think we were both grieving in our own way. We were only together for six months. But he met my mother on the first date.”
Terrance Hayes
Hayes and Lakshmi were linked in 2021, when a source told People the relationship was in the “early days and they’re still getting to know each other.” The pair were sighted kissing and holding hands while walking Lakshmi’s dog.
In the same year, Lakshmi confirmed she is single and there is no indication she and Hayes are still dating.
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