Padma Lakshmi was sexually exploited as a child by a relative

The Indian-born American author, Padma Lakshmi released her debut memoir titled ‘Love, Loss And What We Ate’, on the occasion of International Women’s Day. In the book, Lakshmi mentioned all what she has been through in her life.

She talked about how her husband, renowned author Salman Rushdie treated her and exploited her sexually. Further, she has revealed, how she was abused as a child.

Explaining her ordeal, Lakshmi mentioned that how she was sexually exploited as a child by her step-father’s relative. She told People Magazine, “One night, I woke up to his hand in my underpants. He took my hand and placed it inside his briefs. I don’t know how many times it happened before, since I suspect I slept through some incidents. Once you take a girl’s innocence, you can never get it back. What I remember more is telling my mother what happened and her believing me and then she and I telling someone else that it happened and that person not believing me. And then the next week, I was sent to India. In retrospect however, he should have been the one to go. Years later, in tears, my mother would acknowledge this grave mistake.”

Lakshmi entered wedlock with Rushdie in 2004, however parted ways in 2007.