Padma Lakshmi Opens Up About Being SI Swimsuit’s Newest Model on ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’
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Padma Lakshmi dropped by Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Monday night to chat about the new season of Hulu’s Taste the Nation, as well as her status as SI Swimsuit’s newest model.
“It’s definitely meaningful,” Lakshmi said of working with the brand, noting that she would’ve loved to pose for the magazine back in her 20s when she was working as a model “because it is the Holy Grail.”
The 52-year-old best-selling author said when she got the call a few months ago to pose for the magazine, she initially didn’t believe it. “I really thought that ship had passed, to be honest,” she said.
Lakshmi shared a similar sentiment with SI Swimsuit when discussing why “it’s sweeter” being featured in the magazine in her 50s than it would’ve been in her 20s.
“And then I started freaking out, I’m like, ‘I gotta go to the gym, oh my God,’ you know. Luckily I was already hitting the gym pretty hard because it had been just a month since I got home from filming Top Chef and I eat like, so much food [on set],” she told Kimmel.
Season 2 of Taste the Nation, which Lakshmi hosts and executive produces, premieres on Hulu on Friday.
Meet Padma Lakshmi—read the 2023 SI Swimsuit model’s full feature profile here.
This article originally appeared on Sports Illustrated Lifestyle.
