Boston Common - Niche Media - A side of Boston that's anything but common.
Issue link: http://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/361673
100 bostoncommon-magazine.com Top Chef host, for mer su per model , author , a n d entr epr en eu r Pa dm a L a kshmi a dds mIt consu lta nt to her Impr essI v e lIst of accomplIshments. By nichole Bernier photography by robert ascroft T he office of MIT's director of g ynepatholog y goes from silent to buzzing w it h t he opening of a door. Padma Lakshmi's crew has arrived, with the former supermodel at its center, leggy in navy short-shorts and black ankle boots, with a vintage military-style band vest over a white tank. If t hey're late because M I T's 77 Mass Avenue complex is a cit ylike warren of science, it's entirely understandable; even the janitors aren't certain where to find Building 16. If they're late because Lakshmi was wrapping shooting on Season 12 of Top Chef, which she hosts, or working on a cookbook or her jewelry or tableware lines, or writing a fashion col- umn, or shuttling her 4 -year-old daughter to the airport to visit her father, Adam Dell (yes, that Dell), in New York, or dodging paparazzi questions about ex-husband Salman Rushdie's memoir or whether or not she's dat- ing Richard Gere—that's entirely understandable, too. "Simple" is not a word that comes to mind in describing the life of Padma Lakshmi, but it is among her favorite words. "Simple" as in sim- ple, wholesome roast chicken; simple, timeless wardrobe items; simple, casual picnics. Even her visit to MIT arises perhaps from the simplest impulse of a passionate, intellectually curious person: to remedy what she sees as an omission in medical information and teach the public about a disease that drastically impacted her life. simple