The reason behind Top Chef star Padma Lakshmis scar on her arm Fri 29 April 2022 11:36 Ce

Top Chef host Padma Lakshmi isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get fully involved in the kitchen. So when she did just that and exposed scars on her arms, Bravo viewers questioned how she got them.

She has led the way for the cooking competition since season 2, just one of her many achievements: including not one, not two, but SIX books with her name on it. The successful writer and kitchen connoisseur has become quite the icon.

However, when she recently rolled her sleeves up to reveal scars on her arms, many were curious to find out what happened to her. Padma used to be self-conscious of the marks but has learned to love them over time.

BridTV8461Top Chef | Season 19 Official Trailer | Amazon Primehttps://i.ytimg.com/vi/WAZXdMEI52Q/hqdefault.jpg955933955933center22403

How did Padma get the scar on her arm?

Padma got the scar during a car accident, when she had a shattered arm, leaving her with a gash. She also had extensive injuries including a fractured hip, which meant she had to undergo surgery.

At the time, the now-Top Chef host was eating rice in the car, when she suddenly heard a loud bang, saw the plate fly up into the air, and only noticed the “miraculous blue sky”, as told in a video shared by The Moth.

She has since been left with a seven-inch scar on her right arm following the Malibu-based incident. The freak accident involved Padma flying out of the car on a driveway, which she had initially noticed was really busy for a Sunday.

The Bravo star then went “40 feet down the embankment” during the 1984 accident.

Gorgeous child! When she's older, show her supermodel/famous foodie Padma Lakshmi's scar from an auto accident when she was a child. Birth marks and scars are who we are. pic.twitter.com/Qfr2fIbh4E

— Essbe (@ssbe83) November 9, 2021
View Tweet

Padma got the scar at 14 years old

Padma was just 14 years old when the car accident happened. When she woke up in a California hospital, she wrote in her memoir that she had a shattered arm, severed right index metacarpal and a fractured left hip. She added:

After my first surgery, I was left with the scar, thin and straight, on my right arm.

At first, the scar wasn’t noticeable, but three years on from the accident, the marking developed. She said: “I developed a keloid and the scar transformed into the gnarly caterpillar that today creeps up my right arm.”

Watching through Top Chef from the beginning & got curious today about the very prominent scars on Padma Lakshmi's arms. She wrote about them in a personal essay & it is a word: ""If someone could wave a magic wand, I really don’t think I would choose to eliminate my scar…"

— sammy rhodes (@sammyrhodes) May 27, 2021
View Tweet

The Top Chef host loves her scars

Padma wrote in her memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate that while modeling for famed photographer Helmut Newton, she found a whole new level of acceptance for the scar which she previously thought was defective.

The writer had told the photographer about her scar before he captured photos of her for a campaign for Italian coffee products maker, Lavazza, which opened a ton of doors for her in the modelling world.

“Didn’t they tell you about my scar?,” she wrote. “The words barely escaped my mouth. “Yes, yes,” he said, “but why have you erased a part of it? You’ve ruined the beauty of it.”

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Padma Lakshmi (@padmalakshmi)

View Instagram Post

WATCH TOP CHEF ON BRAVO EVERY THURSDAY AT 8/7C

AND GET FREAKY WITH US ON INSTAGRAM AND FACEBOOK

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7s7HApaCtsaSewaO102eaqKVfl7%2Biws5oq6GdXaeyor%2FOp2SbnZieu6V506inZpuYmrNuv9OaqWaokZm6onnLmqKsoJ2ewG6%2FwpqpZqeeYrWmvoyaqaY%3D