Padma Lakshmi opens up about former marriage to Salman Rushdie: 'I did think about the fatwā every day of my life'

Padma Lakshmi — who just made her final appearance as host of Top Chef — is reflecting on her former marriage to author Salman Rushdie. Following the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, Rushdie was met with threats of violence, including a fatwā demanding his execution issued on Valentine's Day 1989 by Ayatollah Khomeini, the then-Supreme leader of Iran, who called the book "blasphemous against Islam."

Appearing on Who's Talking to Chris Wallace? on Max and CNN this weekend, Lakshmi, 52, admitted that the threats weighed heavily on her during her three-year marriage to Rushdie, 75. The former couple were wed from 2004 to 2007.

"I would be lying if I said, I didn't think about those things. I did think about the fatwā every day of my life, I couldn't not think about it," Lakshmi told Wallace. "But what I thought about more, was very deep love between us. And that made me not afraid, because I was with the man I loved. And I thought that was where it should be."

The cookbook author added that her family had reservations about the relationship.

"My family wasn't very excited at first either, you know, by this relationship, but they also in time really grew to love Salman," she shared. "And that's really what I hope propels all of my important decisions."

Now mom to 13-year-old daughter Krishna from her past relationship with Adam Dell, Lakshmi also shared her thoughts on Rushdie's condition after being stabbed last summer at a literary event.

"He’s healing beautifully, valiantly," said Lakshmi, who spoke out after the attack on Rushdie. "Like everyone else, when I heard about it it catapulted me right back to things that I hadn't thought about for a very long time."

She added, "You know, obviously, we have a lot of common friends and I think he's doing great. He's a tough old boot. And he's not anything if he's not tenacious, so I'm happy that he is healing."