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Padma Lakshmi had a scant three weeks to get her body bikini-ready for the 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.
“Luckily I was trying to lose the weight from ‘Top Chef’ so I was in the gym a lot,” the actress, 52, told Page Six at a Cinema Society screening for Season 2 of Hulu’s “Taste the Nation.”
“But I only had 3 weeks’ notice. It was surreal.”
Lakshmi confessed that when her publicist called her with the news, she thought it was a prank.
“I was like, ’No, you’re s–tting me.’ Literally I was like, ‘That’s not true, it’s so surreal,’” she recalled with a laugh. “
“I thought it would happen one day for me when I was in my 20s and 30s and a model, but it never did, so I really thought that ship had sailed. So it’s almost sweeter happening at this age.”
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The “Top Chef” judge shared that she didn’t go on any crash diets to prepare.
“I can’t do that,” she told us. “I tried the Atkins diet for four hours one time and I had a wicked headache and was angry. I don’t need to change my body. I just need to be toned and in shape. I’m not a different size now than before I got that call – I’m the same size.”
However, she admitted that those preceding weeks in the gym were intense.
“This was a three-week boot camp of boxing, jumping rope, working out with weights and rowing machines, every day,” she revealed.
Clearly it was worth it as the “Love, Loss, and What We Ate” author looked incredible in the photos she shared on Instagram.
Sports Illustrated Swimsuit also shared a Reel featuring Lakshmi discussing her thoughts on being a bikini model at 52.
“When young women see this, I hope they see that they have a long life to live,” she said in the clip.
“And that experience and wisdom and going through stuff actually makes you more interesting and enriches you as a person.”
Besides discussing her bikini bod, Lakshmi is busy promoting her cooking and travel series, “Taste the Nation,” in which she traverses the country sampling foods from various immigrant groups.
This season, she explores the food culture of Afghani and Cambodian communities, as well as Appalachia.
Other celebs at the screening included Susan Sarandon, Chris Rock, Questlove, Bowen Yang, Eric Andre and Marcus Samuelsson.
Lakshmi’s plus-one at the event was her 13-year-old daughter, Krishna.
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