Padma Lakshmi. Courtesy of Bare Necessities
Padma Lakshmi became a big fan of spray tans when she realized that they can look good on everyone.
“I used to think it was just for white girls. But it’s not,” Lakshmi, 53, exclusively told Us Weekly on Wednesday, May 29, about her love for the beauty treatment while promoting her Bare Necessities collaboration. “My girlfriend who does my hair, she’s Filipino, and she told me, ‘No, it’s like body makeup. Think about it as body makeup.’”
Lakshmi explained that changing her mindset about faux tans made her realize it’s a great tool that can help cover a lot of “little nicks and bruises.”
“I bruise easily,” she confessed. “But I love my legs now. And even when we were doing the photos for this, I said, ‘Look, make it look nice and process the photos, but don’t retouch my stretch marks.’”
The model shared that she was adamant about not doing any retouching, especially for her scar or inoculation marks because it would just “feel fake.”
“People are used to seeing me,” she said. “And so I never thought that.”
Before Lakshmi fully embraced her body, she admitted that she used to hate her legs, especially when she was a teenager.
“I wouldn’t wear shorts because I was basically a stick bug,” she told Us. “I was this height when I was 13. I just weighed 35 [or] 40 pounds less, and I just felt very gangly and my neck was so long.”
Padma Lakshmi. Courtesy of Bare Necessities
Lakshmi joked that she felt like she resembled “E.T. with hair” during her “gawky teenager” phase. However, as she got older, Lakshmi shared that she started to appreciate her flaws.
“I grew into myself, so I love my legs even though they’re really banged up and I have drunk girl legs — like I climb trees,” she said. “And I also, I’m allergic to mosquito bites and everything stays as a scar.”
Lakshmi admitted that during the early days of her modeling career, she would have “killed” to appear in Sports Illustrated. She eventually got the call in 2023 and had “three weeks” to get “in shape” for the photoshoot. While preparing for it, Lakshmi realized that she didn’t focus on dieting, instead her priority was to eat “really well.”
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“I don’t want to be smaller. I just want to be super fit,” she told Us. “I am happy with my size. I’d be happy even if I was 10 [or] 15 pounds heavier, as long as my skin is as toned and as firm. There’s no other remedy for that.”
Lakshmi now feels she’s in her “sexual peak” and she doesn’t care about what anyone else thinks. The former Top Chef host shared she wants people to feel that same way when they wear her new lingerie line.
“I want them to feel happy and confident and comfortable,” she said. “No matter how beautiful you look, if you’re not comfortable, you won’t look beautiful.”
With reporting by Travis Cronin