Padma Lakshmi Says Her Daughter Wants Her to Dress 'More Provocatively'

Padma Lakshmi says her 15-year-old daughter, Krishna, has strong opinions when it comes to her sense of style.

The Top Chef alum and Krishna, who both grace the September issue of Vogue India, displayed their playful rapport while participating in a game of “Tell the Truth” for the magazine’s YouTube channel.

Krishna said that “before we leave the house, we’re pretty brutal” about giving opinions on each other’s outfits. She revealed that she’ll tell her mom, “You can’t wear that in public with me.”

“She’s like, ‘You’re not going out in that,’” Lakshmi, 55, told the outlet. “And she’s always telling me to dress more provocatively.”

“And she’s always telling me to dress less provocatively,” Krishna added.

“Some of your skirts are a little short for me,” Lakshmi said. “And a little short for you too, P.S.”

When asked to name a fictional character who reminds her of Krishna, Lakshmi compared her daughter to Tinker Bell, saying “she always puts pixie dust on. Like, if I’m in a bad mood, or I’m stiff, she’ll come and she’ll just shake me up, and she’ll say, ‘Mom, relax.’ Or she’ll say, ‘Come on, you’re funnier than this.’” 

Lakshmi observed, “She doesn’t want me to be afraid to be who I am, because she thinks sometimes I’m very controlled. And she likes how I am with her when no one’s around.”

At one point in the clip, mother and daughter discuss who’s more likely to be late to their own wedding.

“I don’t believe in marriage,” Lakshmi said. “I’m not getting married.”

To that, Krishna quipped, “You’d probably be late to your own funeral if you could.”

Lakshmi welcomed her only child in 2010 with then-partner Adam Dell, whom she dated in the wake of her 2007 divorce from writer Salman Rushdie. 

She joked in 2020 that Krishna, an aspiring actress, has been “the real star in the family” ever since she was born. “I’m a fan of my daughter’s creativity,” she told Us Weekly at the time. “She is wildly entertaining and funny and a great singer. … Krishna’s hysterical. I have to resist the temptation to put her on my social media all the time because I don’t think that’s right, but it’s hard because she’s really, genuinely funny!”

In her new interview with Vogue India, Lakshmi said that nowadays, “It’s just the two of us under one roof. While I’m going through perimenopause, she’s going through puberty. It’s a lot of female energy.” 

She continued, “It’s wonderful what Krishna said earlier, that we’re the most important thing in each other’s lives. Because five years from now, she will have her whole own life. So I just want to make sure she has a well-rounded understanding of what her craft is and what being an artist means.”