Padma Lakshmi is still mourning the loss of her friend, Fatima Ali. The former Top Chef contestant, who placed seventh in season 15 of the Bravo show, passed away on Friday, January 25. The loss comes nearly a year after Ali announced her cancer had returned, and less than four months after she revealed it was terminal. Ali was 29.
“It’s the first chef that’s been on the show that’s passed away for any reason,” Lakshmi, 48, recently told Variety. “Fatima was a really special young woman. I got very close with her.”
Speaking specifically of Ali, Lakshmi added: “She didn’t even see her 30th birthday. We’re all feeling her absence. She was just one of our brightest stars, so I just feel for her family now.”
Though the host noted she typically doesn’t “fraternize” with the cheftestants during their time on the hit show, she has remained tight with the season 15 cast. “After, I did keep in touch with a lot of them, and it’s really sad,” the Easy Exotic author revealed.
Throughout Ali’s health battle with Ewing’s sarcoma – a terminal cancer of the bone and soft tissue – Lakshmi often accompanied her pal to treatments and helped in any way she could. “Padma has taken out much time for me and my family,” Ali told Us Weekly in October 2018. “Coming to sit with me during chemo, popping in with homemade khichdi (an Indian side dish) or sending over delicious chicken and homemade samosas. While battling cancer, I have had energy for little else sometimes, and knowing that I have such a strong support system around me brings me great peace.”
Ali’s family confirmed her death in a heartfelt Instagram post shared just hours after she passed away last month. “Fatima was at home with us, surrounded by her loved ones and beloved cat Mr. Meow, when she left us in the early hours of the morning,” the post stated. “Though she’s no longer here with us, her spirit will continue to steer us. We hope that you, too, will listen to her lessons: Live your life as she did—to the fullest.”
Lakshmi shared an emotional Instagram tribute of her own alongside a photo slideshow. “Goodbye lil’ sis,” she wrote. “One of our brightest stars has fallen from the sky.”
Prior to her death, Ali got candid about her terminal diagnosis in an essay published by Bon Appétit’s Healthyish in October 2018: “My oncologist has told me that I have a year to live, with or without the new chemotherapy regimen,” she explained. “I was looking forward to being 30, flirty and thriving. Guess I have to step it up on the flirting. I have no time to lose.”
