Padma Lakshmi Celebrates Her 50th Birthday with Love from Her Daughter and Andy Cohen

Padma Lakshmi just celebrated a major milestone birthday! The host and executive producer of Bravo’s Top Chef turned 50 on September 1, and it looks like she received a whole lot of love on her special day. 

Andy Cohen wished Padma a happy birthday with a sweet Instagram post full of some of the most epic memories the pair have shared throughout the years together. 

“Happy birthday, my friend!” he captioned the post. “I’ve loved every moment of our work together and friendship! What a long, strange trip it’s been!” 

Padma thanked Andy for his messaging, commenting, “I love you so much Andy. I’ve seen you grow with me and laugh with me the whole way. And now we can both share the joys of being a parent together. I’m so thankful for your friendship!” 

Padma also received a very beautiful gift from her daughter, who created an original song for the occasion! “Littlehands wrote and performed this beautiful birthday song,” Padma wrote alongside a photo slideshow, which included her daughter’s song and a series of photos of Padma at all ages. “50 feels pretty great.” 

Padma also shared some birthday thoughts of her own, reflecting on what the last year has held for her personally and professionally, as well as the world events that have played out. 

“This year has been a mix of misery and elation. The whole world was swallowed up by the plague in March. We were lucky but so many weren’t and I felt an impending doom, a creeping anxiety I could not shake,” she wrote. “Then another Black life was taken and it was good that we all rose up-but so painful, too. So painful that some of our fellow Americans could not even bring themselves to say that Black lives matter, some who hold our highest offices.” 

“But personally, at home, things were peaceful. We made a cocoon for our family. We lived for the first time-all under one roof. We became closer,” she continued. “And professionally, I finally got to show the world what I would do if I got to build a show from scratch. Taste the Nation was well received beyond my wildest dreams, 100% even on Rotten Tomatoes! But the best of all was hearing how all of you felt when you watched it, reading how families watched together. The episode with my mother and Littlehands felt like a tribute to all my mother and millions of other immigrant parents have sacrificed.” 

Finally, Padma took a moment to explain how grateful she is for everything in her life. 

“I cannot ask for anything more. I am truly blessed: a loving and attentive partner, a child that continues to be a miracle every day and work that I am proud of and fully engaged by with people I love. I am today very lucky. But I am also a product of the toil and troubles my younger self endured. And I thank that version of me,” she wrote. “Thank you all so much for joining me on this trip. I have loved sharing it with all of you everyday.”