Padma Lakshmi on Emmys Date Night With Daughter Krishna: 'It's Nice to Share Fun Bits With Her' (Exclusive)
Padma Lakshmi brought an extra-special date with her to the 75th annual Emmy Awards!
The former Top Chef host was joined by her 14-year-old daughter, Krishna Thea, as she graced the annual awards show red carpet in a stunning lime green Marchesa gown. Krishna proved she inherited her mother's model looks in a black, velvet floor-length dress with a high, feathered slit along her left side.
The Taste the Nation host shares her daughter with businessman Adam Dell. Lakshmi rarely discusses her daughter, although the teen has made more frequent appearances on her mother's social media account as she's gotten older. As Padma explained to ET's Kevin Frazier on the Emmys red carpet, it's been a nice change to have her daughter begin accompanying her to events.
"It's really nice to enjoy the Emmys with Krishna! This is her second time because, you know, she's also put up with a lot," the TV host shared. "She's grown up on set; she's used to her mom being on the road, and so it's nice to also share the fun, beautiful bits with her."
Krishna chimed in, telling ET that it's "the most fun in the world" to be her mother's date for the night. "Getting ready is half of it, and then meeting all these amazing people who I look up to is insane," she added, gleefully.
Top Chef is nominated for two awards, including Outstanding Competition Program, with Padma earning a nod for Outstanding Host for a Reality or Reality-Competition Program.
It's Padma's final season with the Emmy-winning competition series, which she has earned four previous nominations for Outstanding Host for a Reality-Competition Program with. Last June, the longtime host announced her exit less than one week before the season 20 finale aired.
Padma joined Top Chef in 2006 during the Emmy-winning cooking competition show's second season, which was filmed in Los Angeles. She, along with franchise mainstays Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons, made up the crux of the judging panel, with professional chefs like Eric Ripert, Emeril Lagasse, the late Anthony Bourdain and others rotating in and out over the seasons. She added an executive producer title in 2010.
Reflecting on the show's longevity and nominations, Padma told ET that it's "wonderful" to be appreciated by their peers for all their hard work. "We are very lucky we've been nominated every season that I've been on, and it's always wonderful because I don't live in L.A., so to come here and meet a lot of my peers is really the fun part," she said.
"It's nice to be recognized for the work, you know? It's really important; sometimes you're making something [and] it's a collaborative effort [so] you don't know how it's going to come out," she added.
The 53-year-old is also nominated for Outstanding Hosted Nonfiction Series or Special for her Hulu food travel show, Taste the Nation With Padma Lakshmi. The series launched during Top Chef's 17th season and amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Taste the Nation explores immigrant food cultures across the country and what defines American cuisine.
"I also wanted to travel the country. I wanted to see on the ground, what does it mean to be American? Who gets to decide that? What is American food actually?" Padma told ET of the show in June 2020. "It seemed to me, we were willing to embrace immigrant food and make it our own, but yet we were still unwilling to embrace the people that made that food. And that to me seems super hypocritical."
The 75th Primetime Emmy Awards, originally set to take place last September, was postponed due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes. Hosted by Anthony Anderson at L.A. Live's Peacock Theater in Los Angeles, the ceremony will air live Monday, Jan. 15 at 5 p.m. PT, 8 p.m. ET on Fox, and will be streamed Tuesday, Jan. 16 on Hulu. Keep checking ETonline.com for complete Emmys coverage and for the full winners' list.
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