Padma Lakshmi wants more women to start talking about their vagina and the general health issues that come with it.
The Top Chef presenter, 52, opened up about her battle with endometriosis, which she has struggled with since she was 13.
“Laying in bed for a week every month trying everything and nothing works,” she told the Guardian after being spotted at The Night of Pi event in New York on Tuesday.
“My body turned against me. I saw college roommates, friends of mine, took two ibuprofen and went back to basketball practice. I thought, “What is wrong with me that I can’t handle one of the most fundamental aspects of being a woman?”
The Bravo personality, who revealed her series Taste the Nation would be back, also shared that she’s furious that there’s not one drug for endometriosis, but several for erectile dysfunction.
She wasn’t diagnosed with the debilitating condition, which affects 10% of women, until 23 years after menstruation began – which infuriates her.
Talk about it: Padma Lakshmi wants more women to start talking about their vagina and the general health issues that come with it, she told The Guardian; seen Tuesday in NYC
The model opened up about losing so much of her life to endometriosis, “so many exams, work assignments, first or second dates, family gatherings that I just missed being able to attend.”
And what makes them particularly angry is the fact that male reproductive disorders are widely researched and drugs are available to treat and reverse them.
“If I had erectile dysfunction, there would be many medications for me,” the mother-of-one continued. “But not with endometriosis. I’m pretty sure you can still make it to the office with erectile dysfunction. Whereas one cannot move from the fetal position with such severe pain…’
The Mayo Clinic defines endometriosis as “an often painful condition in which tissue similar to the tissue that normally lines the inside of your uterus—the endometrium—grows outside of your uterus.
“Surrounding tissue can become irritated and eventually develop scar tissue and adhesions — bands of fibrous tissue that can cause pelvic tissue and organs to stick together,” leading to severe pain and fertility problems.
The Easy Exotic author was diagnosed in 2006 and having surgery to ease her symptoms was not just a game changer, it was a game changer as she got a quarter of her time back.
She wrote her second cookbook, Tangy, Tart, Hot and Sweet, and divorced her husband, Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie was reportedly unsympathetic to her pain, calling it a “bad investment.”
Her pain: The Bravo personality – who revealed her series Taste the Nation would be back – also shared that she’s furious that there isn’t one drug for endometriosis, but several for erectile dysfunction
Top Chef: Bravo’s Top Chef season 20 premiered on March 9; seen with her daughter
During this time Padma also began her career as a television presenter and co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America with her gynecologist Tamer Seckin.
“I’ve found my own voice,” she admitted. “Advocacy has allowed me to learn to speak about some very difficult issues; big, personal issues. Nobody wants to stand in front of a room and talk about their vagina. But I was so angry about what had happened to me.
And then, in 2010, she and then-boyfriend Adam Dell welcomed their daughter Krishna, now 13.
“I personally think it was good karma for starting the foundation that I got pregnant,” she said.
“It was such a nice surprise,” she added. “I was told I could never get pregnant because I had a fallopian tube removed; Half an ovary was removed on the other side. So I really don’t know how that happened. I am very grateful for that.”
Last week Top Chef season 20 premiered on Bravo and Padma has an interesting take on the competition.
“It’s just TV at the end of the day, isn’t it? Chefs get so passionate and so meticulous, but it’s a very temporary thing; Eventually that plate of food that you’re upset about will be consumed and end up in the toilet,” she said.
“So it’s best to have a sense of humor.”
Relief: She was diagnosed and operated on in 2006 and immediately got a quarter of her time back; Seen with her ex-husband Salman Rushdie in 2006