Padma Lakshmi she put dating on the back burner while raising her teenage daughter and continuing to promote her culinary career.
“It's really hard to navigate, you know, being a single mother and being lucky enough to have a full-time job and dating,” Lakshmi, 55, said to herself. Us Weekly while we are promoting American Culinary Cup. “I think dating at my age is dangerous.”
I American Culinary Cup The producer and executive producer admitted that he is “very cautious” about letting a new person into his world now that he is older.
“I don't know, do I let this person in my house? Do I ask them for a background check? Like, you know, I'm not sure,” Lakshmi said. “I know that seems disrespectful, but you know, I'm harmless, so it's hard.”
Padma Lakshmi.
Noam Galai/Getty Images of Gold HouseThe professional chef confirmed he is “single” before teasing, “I'll leave it at that.”
Lakshmi noted that with little supervision, she has her “hands full” at work American Culinary Cup after publishing her latest cookbook, Padma's All American: Tales, Travels, and Recipes from Taste the Nation and Beyond: A Cookbooklast November.
He also told Us he is busy “taking care of my family and my mother, my daughter,” but that doesn't mean Lakshmi is romanced forever.
“I think that if it's the right time and the right person, it will happen,” he concluded.
Lakshmi shares her only child, daughter Krishna, 16, with ex Adam Dellhe fell in love with her following his breakup with her Salman Rushdie in 2007. Lakshmi and Dell, 56, dated from 2009 to 2012 before rekindling their romance in 2017. They split amicably in 2021.
While Lakshmi sparked romance rumors with The top chef alum Melissa King fall 2025, Us they confirmed in November 2025 that they are “just close friends.”
Krishna Lakshmi-Dell and Padma Lakshmi.
Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for CBSLakshmi, on the other hand, told Us earlier this month she is focusing on being a mother and entrepreneur more than anything these days.
“No two days are the same at home.” So I don't know, you know, what she's going to do when she comes back from school,” she shared about her life as a single mother. “She's very happy. I'm lucky you're doing well. And you know, it's a joy to see him grow every day.”
When it comes to work, Lakshmi said season 1 of American Culinary Cup he is like his second child.
“It's a big thing [I wanted to bring to this show] in fact it was to give the cooks all the ingredients, weapons, equipment they would need to make them and remove all the tricks and adventures at times. [happen] in practical planning,” Lakshmi explained Us. “To make it more fun, we throw obstacles in their way [on other series]. We ask them to cook with baby irons or something like that. And I wanted to see what they could do if it was just about cooking. “
Suzanne Goin, Padma Lakshmi and Daniela Soto-Innes.
Jackie Brown/CBSLakshmi said that making the show about the talent contestants only helped it become the No. 1 show. 1 television cooking competition.
“I'm proud of all my producers and chefs, obviously, they cook their hearts out,” he said. “We took a risk, you know, saying, 'No, this is going to be about culinary purity,' and it was a gamble. And luckily, people are watching.”
Lakshmi added that due to the high quality of the chefs in season 1, she “didn't get a bad meal,” which fans can see from her week-by-week reaction to the final dishes.
American Culinary Cup airs on CBS Wednesdays at 9 pm ET and the season finale airs Wednesday, May 13.
