The 'Top Chef' host turned 50 on Tuesday.
Happy birthday, Padma Lakshmi! The Top Chef host turned 50 on Tuesday, and marked the occasion with a reflective post on Instagram.
As Lakshmi told her followers, "this year has been a mix of misery and elation."
"The whole world was swallowed up by the plague in March. We were lucky but so many weren’t and I felt an impending doom, a creeping anxiety I could not shake," she wrote. "Then another Black life was taken and it was good that we all rose up- but so painful too. So painful that some of our fellow Americans could not even bring themselves to say that Black lives matter, some who hold our highest offices."
However, at home with her daughter, 10-year-old Krishna, and Adam Dell, things were "peaceful" for Lakshmi.
"We made a cocoon for our family. We lived for the first time-all under one roof. We became closer," she gushed. "And professionally, I finally got to show the world what I would do if I got to build a show from scratch. Taste the Nation was well received beyond my wildest dreams, 100 percent even on rotten tomatoes!"
"But the best of all was hearing how all of you felt when you watched it, reading how families watched together," Lakshmi continued. "The episode with my mother and littlehands felt like a tribute to all my mother and millions of other immigrant parents had sacrificed."
The TV host said she felt "truly blessed" with "a loving and attentive partner, a child that continues to be a miracle every day and work that I am proud of and fully engaged by with people I love."
"I am today very lucky. But I am also a product of the toil and troubles my younger self endured. And I thank that version of me," she concluded. "Thank you all so much for joining me on this trip. I have loved sharing it with all of you everyday (even the Trump supporters) #thisis50 #virgoseason."
Lakshmi has a lot to celebrate as Taste the Nation has been renewed for a second season at Hulu. Top Chef, meanwhile, recently concluded its 17th season. In an interview with ET, Lakshmi noted she and the team were discussing what the future of Top Chef will look like amid the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’ll have to retool the show, both for the protection of my crew and cast, but also to set a good example. You probably won't see me and Tom sharing a plate of food,” she said, adding that the challenges will be informed by what food is available and how they can prepare it in close proximity to each other.
“We do want to address the current situation in the restaurant industry," Lakshmi added. "Our show is based on those restaurants. We built Top Chef off the backs of professional chefs and their establishments."
“We're also talking about how to make sure that we have greater diversity,” she continued, lamenting that the restaurant industry is very white, male dominated. “It’s just trying to look at the situation with fresh eyes because where we are demands it.”
See more on Lakshmi in the video below.
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