Padma Lakshmi may be best known as the Emmy-nominated television host and executive producer of Bravo's Emmy-winning series Top Chef. 

She is a food expert and the New York Times best-selling author who has graced our televisions for decades on the reality TV cooking competition.

But there is more to her life than what audiences see on TV. 

In 2016, the host released her memoir, Love, Loss and What We Ate, and offered fans a glimpse into her personal life.

She lifted the lid on her three-year marriage to her former spouse Salam Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses. 

In the autobiography, Lakshmi revealed the truth about her turbulent love life. 

Padma Lakshmi's Blissful Marriage With Spouse Salman Rushdie

The author met her former spouse in 1999 and was mesmerized by him calling him the Indian Hemingway. 

She was taken aback when she learned that Rushdie, who was way out of her league, was interested in her. 

"I mean, he was the best thing that ever happened to me by a mile. The fact that somebody of that stature and caliber wanted to take me to lunch was kind of unbelievable," shared Lakshmi to People. 

The couple had their first date in Central Park, and they ended up taking it to the bedroom. 

Lakshmi shared that his words seduced her. 

They eventually moved in together, but only after Lakshmi was convinced that Rushdie's marriage with his third wife was completely over. 

Padma Lakshmi's spouse Salman Rushdie

Padma Lakshmi's Spouse Salman Rushdie (Source: History of Literature Podcast/Instagram)

In 2004, the duo tied the knot, and the Emmy-nominated host recalled that the initial days of their relationship were "blissful" and passionate.

She shared that her spouse would make her breakfast in bed every morning 

Lakshmi was on cloud nine as she felt she had finally found somebody who understood her because Rushdie, too, was an Indian living in the West.

Padma Lakshmi's Impending Divorce

Everything was going great for the cookbook author, but little did she know that her marriage would fall apart. 

As their marriage blossomed, so did Lakshmi's food career, but instead of celebrating and supporting his wife, her spouse resented it. 

The Satanic Verses author was miserable because the host could no longer attend to his needs fully. 

Lakshmi also wrote of having to console her husband every time the Nobel prize went to someone else. 

But this is just one of the less insidious and disturbing recollections. 

According to the chef, her husband was aloof about her endometriosis, which had gotten more acute. 

As a result, she was often in chronic pain and unable to have sex.

But instead of showing support, Rushdie accused of using her condition as an excuse not to have sex. 

"It's not that I didn't want to be there for him, but something was deeply wrong. And I didn't understand it. And that caused a lot of misunderstanding," said the chef. 

They were constantly fighting that at one point, he called her "a bad investment."

The tipping point came when Rushdie went away on a trip saying "the show must go on" after Lakshmi had a five-hour surgery that resulted in stitches and stents. 

After recovery, the first thing Lakshmi did was see a divorce lawyer, and just like that, their marriage ended after three years.