Sometimes, breaking news is so significant, it demands that I waste my lunchtime on it. This is not that kind of news story (thanks, Anon + Rose). Via Yahoo!:
British author Salman Rushdie and his wife Padma Lakshmi, host of TV show “Top Chef,” are getting divorced, his spokeswoman said on Monday, just two weeks after he was awarded a controversial knighthood.
Fourth time? Not a charm, it turns out.
He married Lakshmi, a former model born in 1970 in India, in 2004. She was his fourth wife and the couple had no children.
It’s not him, it’s her:
“Salman Rushdie has agreed to divorce his wife, Padma Lakshmi, because of her desire to end their marriage,” spokeswoman Jin Auh said in a statement on his behalf.
I don’t think it was just the British, who did:
When the Indian-born Rushdie started his romance with the model more than 20 years his junior, the British tabloids made much of their differences in age and intellectual stature.
But Rushdie always defended his wife.
Am I the only one who finds “not supposed to be permitted to be” awkward?
“Anyone who’s met Padma knows she’s as intelligent as they come,” he told The Times of London in a 2005 interview. “But, you know, it’s not supposed to be permitted to be gorgeous and really smart and also very nice.”
Okay, snark aside, I do remember feeling a bit sorry for him. Or at least wincing on his behalf. Once.
“It feels very odd to see newspaper articles saying ‘Beauty and the Beast’ and ‘Why Do Beautiful Women Love Ugly Men?”‘ he said in the interview. “But at this stage, I’m kind of resigned to it at — as you say — pushing 60.”
While a few of you howled that these two were your top pick for the “One of these things is not like the other/THEY FREAKING DON’T BELONG TOGETHER”-prize, I still say that TomKat deserves THAT dishonor. Yes, more than AbhiShwarya, even. Back to reading Maximum City, if you’re not industriously doing something else. 😉
My plan is working! Come to me, Padma. COME TO ME!
Damn ,I coulda made money on this because I knew this would happen.I guessed the timning accurately after Ms.L appeared on that cooking show …
One more opportunity to make money has passed me by ….
Why can’t Top Chef and Planet Food have beautiful desi hosts who thoroughly enjoy the gastronomic experience? Why supermodels??? PICK ME!!!
On a financial note, I wonder how the settlement has worked out…
People could be all “why’s she with that fugly bastard” when she hangs on my arm, and I seriously…would…not…care.
I accept you for who you are, Padma. You can cook, too. My parents will be so pleased! Salman, I feel for you, dude, but whatever. You’ll find a new piece of arm-candy. You’re nobility, now, so you’ve got all kinds of wide open horizons opening up, and many of them will be less suggestive of characters in novels you’ve written. I wish you well in your search.
Call me Ormus. She can be Vina. 🙂
saw rushdie speak on campus a few months ago… he was a damn bore… no wonder laskhmi left… she was there too…bored to tears…
My boundless enthusiasm has rendered me incoherent. “Wide open horizons opening up…” Bah!
This is the effect you have on me, Padma! Come, my little lotus blossom!
Salil,
Down, boy, down!!! 🙂
Oscar Wilde called a second marriage the “Triump of hope over experience” – wonder what he would have to say about a fourth ??
I mean seriously – what was Salman thinking???
Like the TV show “NEXT”, he has decided to play his luck
One of the saddest details about their relationship shows up in a Daily Mail piece:
But there were hints of trouble as far back as last year, when Ms Lakshmi complained to a New York Post reporter that she was “frustrated” by her husband’s lack of support for a movie she was producing. “One thing is sure – I know Salman won’t help me in the least in the screenplay department because he’ll make me pay him for his contribution, and no matter how big a budget I can come up with, there will still be no way that I can afford him. He’s very frustrating in that way,” she reportedly said. (link)
What, you couldn’t spare a couple of hours to look over your wife’s screenplay? And, do you really think your relationship will continue unharmed if you don’t go a little out of your way to help move along your younger wife’s career? To me, this anecdote suggests Rushdie is living in a money-centric fantasy world.
Aw,Amardeep , I think its really sweet of you to feel that passionately about husbands supporting wives’ career ambitions ( and vice versa )
I am sure that the real reason for the breakup must be a complex combination of complex issues that are only known to the 2 folks in question .Its just more fun to slot it into the “younger gold digger older lech ” paradigm 🙂
( Yeah, I am the Queen of Mean today)
maye lakshmi listened to this advice..
I can’t help but snicker in sympathetic glee on behalf of Salman’s former wife – she, and her young son, were abandoned by him when he ran off with Padma…
runa, was this after reading fury, SR’s ode to PL?
one of the highlights of last season’s top chef was watching PL make the most irrelevant comments and the other judges ignoring her (on every episode). this season, however, she seems to be a bit more focused on the quality of her comments, so it’s harder to fault her. but she still has this sort of pretense about her on that show…
Hardly surprising. Salman Rushdie’s next erection might be during his rigor mortis. Padma has got it going. She’s in a MILFish high. It’s all carnal guys.
Who next? Arthur Miller?
I’ve run into (sort of) Padma twice…never actually talked to her…once was in a Thai restaurant in Gurgaon, and the other, more funny episode, was at Basement Bhangra in NYC…it was about two years ago, she arrived with Salman in tow, and as he stood around on the sidelines, she proceeded to get on the floor and dance. One of my good friends got in front of her and danced with her for a few minutes. It was hilarious.
Did she get to be Lady Padma when he became Sir Salman? Does she still get to keep that?
Also, what about that guy on whom Salman threated to use a baseball bat in defence of his beloved? Is that fatwa revoked now?
I do too, but not as awkward as the picture of the two of them together. And you’ve got to agree, Salman is nothing if not precise in that sentence.
Awww, but with her Top Chef career, she won’t still need him, feed him (or for sure, read him) when he’s 64.
Did she get to be Lady Padma when he became Sir Salman? Does she still get to keep that?
Yes, until she remarries or reverts to her “maiden name.” (I’m not even sure she took his last name to begin with, so this may not be a factor)
Maybe, they’re just splitting to avoid becoming the subject of the next Disney movie then – Lady and The Gramp.
I think she might be ready for a dumb and gorgeous jatt like me after having the heavy burden of trying to be intellectual. I can envision Padma and moi watching talk soup on E! after an evening rendezvous. I got to get the time for Food network taping…..Now I got to figure out how to stalk and not appear stalkerish?
easy, vic. observe your target for several days and then incorporate yoursef into his/her routine to make it but a coincidence that you ran into each other (max one ‘coincidental’ meeting per day). this is how i met my last boyfriend, and we had a really great 2 weeks before he went all TRO on me.
.
Hi AK…. I think we may have something in common here…I find stalkers in disguise to have that certain ‘Je n’ai sais quoi’ or whatever. You Single? :)))
Does anyone know how she got that scar on her right arm? Looks like it should have an interesting story behind it.
Does anyone know how she got that scar on her right arm? Looks like it should have an interesting story behind it.
Wikipedia says it’s from a car accident.
Good luck to you, Sir Salman. If you happen to be in Austin, I promise to treat you to the best chicken botis in town.
He included that scar in his Padma-like character in Fury.
No trashing Talk Soup. Did you see this week’s edition? I watch VH1’s this week show sometimes but talk soup is a good laugh although you need to watch or at least be aware of the reality/talk shows.
You know what time it is…
I did not know Salman Rushdie was a British author; wasn’t he born in India? Perhaps such things do not matter. What matters is he is divorced yet again! Better luck next time Salman…
And to throw in a few good words for Sir Rushdie – contrary to all the talk of his ego and whatnot, he’s been quite charming, gracious and personable the few times we’ve encountered him at viewings, galleries & other public venues.
Wow..it’s so shocking..
I wonder what the real scoop is — did find some hottie in Miami?
I wonder if she told Salman “Pack your knives and leave.” (yuk, yuk)
yes, we do have that in common, but wouldn’t you have to actually stalk me disguisedly for me to fall for you? otherwise, how would i know to be charmed by your “‘Je n’ai sais quoi’ or whatever”? although if you do manipulate her via stalking, you’re not so dumb after all, and maybe you would have lost the battle before you started – as you said, PL is ready to break away from the burden of spousal intellect..
ha, i just emailed this story to anna, wondering if SM had caught wind of it yet. of course, she was right on top of it! i agree, tomkat definitely deserves the top honor for ‘oddest couple ever’.
I remember when someone quoted this relationship to prove the point of “see? short guys have a chance too” What a crock of sh*t.
Obviously, she was tired of his 60 yr old —-. Hell, can you blame her? A woman with such looks is bound to expect more. Begging the question, why did she marry him in the first place? Probably for the status; being married to Rushdie would have given her a good career boost, not to mention providing necessary capital (financial security). Now thats she up and running on her own two feet, the viagra laden honeymoon is over.
Could his knighthood have somehow spontaneously ignited emotions in Londontown and Glasgow? Why is he worthy of knighthood in the first place?
Did you hear that they are breaking up because she caught Lohan doing blow off Sir Salman’s ass? Well, you heard it here first!
Did anyone catch the TV special where she escorted Jeremy Piven around Mumbai, playing the part of native gourmand-tourguide (at a size 2, i know…i know)?
slight threadjack: if you ever watched Entourage and felt some level of admiration for Piven’s ability to channel a legendary asshole, you’ll be sorely let down by watching the special. He comes across as a painfully earnest, late-to-the-party new ager, who’s completely unaware of how exquisitely corny and stereotypical he appears.
I don’t know what to make of Padma’s performance–I can’t imagine her cooking show is any more exciting though.
Are trying to dissuade me from my stalking goals by suggesting If I succeed…I may be too intelligent to be boy toy. You underestimate the power of good looks sweetie ..and that comment should put your fears to bed.
I haven’t read everything he’s ever written, but I’ve read a lot of it. Fury was literally the one Salman Rushdie book I’ve started and was never able to finish. It was just… bad. Maybe Padma’s semi-presence was why…
So, how does this work when the person confesses their stalkerish behavior to you?
I guess it leaves the ball in your court.
i like to play it by ear. some of my stalkers have been endearing, others slick, and others downright scary. but i’m willing to reserve judgment on stalkers as a whole and make such decisions case-by-case.
not dissuasion – merely laying out the unintended side effects that may come. as for good looks – it begs the question as to how good-looking you are. and how dumb you are willing to play – i concede real intelligence may not be at issue, rather, only its appearance to PL.
7, Runa,
||Oscar Wilde called a second marriage the “Triump of hope over experience” – wonder what he would have to say about a fourth ..
Truimph of dope over hope?
No he actually kicked the bucket, and then his daughter, a spectacuarly untalened writer married to Daniel Day-Lewis squeezed his last, rather young and very talented painter GF out of the house, at which she went to Desh to recuperate.
Rahul (#36):
That gives new (and unwanted) meaning to the term “crack-habit.”
I know, but she’s getting on in years herself, isn’t she? Salil in an Amby or a dead Arthur Miller, she’s got to take what she gets.
So which of these attributes – endearing, slick, or scary – counts as a strike?
Sorry about spoiling the experience for you, dude. It’s a good thing I didn’t tell you they were butt naked.
What the hell did Salman do to mess that up? Do you know how hard it is to find a supermodel that can cook…food?
First Eric Benet, Nick Lachey, now him.
let’s just hope he grieves differently than his namesake