Before Padma Lakshmi's close friendship with chef Melissa King raised eyebrows, the author shed light on her sexuality in an excerpt from her 2016 memoir. Lakshmi, 55, recalled in Love, Loss and What We Ate that during her modeling days in Milan and Paris she "acted out my curiosities and fantasies," one of which was having a brief affair with a woman. "Some I regret, but not all, like knowing what it's like to touch and be touched by a woman," she wrote via the New York Daily News. Lakshmi further touched upon her sexual exploration during a Q&A session with Andy Cohen in March 2016.