indian celebrities: Padma Lakshmi

Tuesday 3 July 2012

Padma Lakshmi

She was born into a South Indian Tamil Brahmin (Iyer) family in 1970 and raised in India and the United States. Her first name means "lotus" in Sanskrit, as well as "pearl" or "jewel."Padma Lakshmi was born in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5] in a Hindu Iyengar Brahmin family.^[6] Her father was a Pfizer executive and her mother Vijaya, the first wife of her father,^[7] was a nurse who specialized in suicide prevention.^[5] Her mother tongue isTamil.^[8] She grew up shuttling between her grandparents in Chennai and her mother inNew York.^[5]^[9]^[10] She is her parents' only child from this marriage. Her parents separated when she was age one. They divorced a year later. Both parents later remarried,^[11] and Lakshmi has a younger paternal half-brother and half-sister. The latter formerly worked as an actress and classical dancer but is now pursuing a career with children with special needs