Exclusive: Padma Lakshmi Speaks Out on Custody War Over Daughter, Nearly 1
Credit: RAMEY PHOTO; Robert Rosamilio/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images
Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi's adorable daughter Krishna celebrates her first birthday next month -- but her parents are suddenly at war in a surprise custody battle.
Krishna's father, venture capitalist Adam Dell, filed a new lawsuit against his famous ex, filing for full custody. (New York Post's Page Six first revealed the filing.)
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According to an earlier agreement, Dell, 41, has visitation rights to see his daughter 9 days per month. Insiders told TMZ that Lakshmi felt "bullied" by her ex, who is apparently furious over the name Lakshmi chose for their child and the end of their relationship. (Once married to Pulitzer-winning author Salman Rushdie, Lakshmi is currently dating mogul Teddy Forstmann.)
"Adam Dell, above all else, wants to have an active and substantial role in the upbringing of his daughter with Padma Lakshmi," his attorney told the Post. "Mr. Dell has tried his best to avoid going to court."
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"Padma wants her daughter to be able to have a relationship with her father," an insider close to the Bravo star counters to UsMagazine.com.
A rep for Lakshmi tells Us exclusively in a statement: "Ms. Lakshmi believes that family matters should be kept private. She asks that those who join her in wanting the best for her daughter do the same."
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She adds: "Ms. Lakshmi's sole interest lies in preserving the privacy and welfare of her daughter and in working out and fair and amicable agreement out of the media's glare."
The star's attorney Jay D. Silverstein says in a statement: "The facts in the court papers are inaccurate and misleading. Ms. Lakshmi looks forward to correcting the record in the courts, not the press. She is saddened and gravely disappointed that Mr. Dell has chosen a very public means of filing his petition with the court rather than doing so in a confidential or sealed manner which is customary in cases involving a very young child. Ms. Lakshmi believes that the manner in which the papers were filed as well their dissemination to the media is antithetical to the welfare and long term emotional well being of their daughter."
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9Padma thougth she'd just get a really HUGE child support check and not have to deal with the father. She should be more careful about getting pregnant by her billionaire boyfriends. She took a gamble, and she's finding out it's not going to be as easy as she thought. I bet Dell will get 50/50 custody.
@ Carla. I agree, well said.
a child is not a piece of property you should be fighting over. it is the product of TWO people. Not really sure what Padma means "dissemination to the media is antithetical to the welfare and long term emotional well being of their daughter." Fact is, when she's old enough, she will understand that her father really wants to be a large part of her life. He can't be all that bad of a person if Padma went so far as to have a physical relationship with him. if he is, then isn't her own judgement questionable?
We don't know what happened between them, so maybe she has her reasons, but the truth is almost always somewhere in the middle.
Another single mother who thinks she has all the say, and right into with another man. He deserves as much time as her.
Seems like another woman who thinks she made a baby on her own...kid deserves a father and a mother, who the heck is Padma to determine what goes with a child created by two adults...if she wanted to be a single parent - go to a freakin' sperm bank.
Not going to happen, unless he has evidence of something substantial, i.e. drugs, physical abuse, etc. It's highly unlikely a Judge would award primary custody to the father unless the mother is deemed exceedingly unfit. Sad they're going through this though.
I don't watch Top Chef so I don't know who this woman is. But I remember when she was part of a baby boom and her face was in articles and a picture of her sitting on a park bench with the baby. She kept SO mum about the father, like Minnie Driver, to where it seemed like she was trying to keep him away from the baby. Like anyone cares who the father is. Why stay so mum like he's a president or something?
this is the stupid one cheering!