Padma Lakshmi reveals she was sexually assaulted at 16; explains why she kept silent   

The author said she was 7-years-old when she was assaulted by a relative, and 16 when she was raped while she was asleep.
Padma Lakshmi
Padma Lakshmi

American television personality and author Padma Lakshmi recently opened up about being raped as a teenager. About five days after President Trump tweeted about accusations against Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh that were allegedly unreported, the model and actor wrote an opinion piece for a leading media organisation. She talked about understanding why a woman would take keep such information to themselves for many years, without involving the police. “When I was 16 years old, I started dating a guy I met at the Puente Hills Mall in a Los Angeles suburb. He was 23. We were intimate to a point, but he knew that I was a virgin and that I was unsure of when I would be ready to have sex. On New Year’s Eve, just a few months after we first started dating, he raped me,” wrote the 48-year-old, recalling the incident.

“The two of us had gone to a couple of parties. Afterwards, we went to his apartment. While we were talking, I was so tired that I lay on the bed and fell asleep. The next thing I remember is waking up to a very sharp stabbing pain like a knife blade between my legs. He was on top of me. I asked, “What are you doing?” He said, “It will only hurt for a while.” “Please don’t do this,” I screamed,” she added.

Unaware of the term ‘date rape’, Lakshmi said she was unsure of whether the incident classified as rape or sex. “I’d always thought that when I lost my virginity, it would be a big deal — or at least a conscious decision. In my mind, when I one day had intercourse, it would be to express love, to share pleasure or to have a baby. This was clearly none of those things,” wrote the Top Chef host.

Speaking in reference to the Kavanaugh issue, Lakshmi said that since two women came forward accusing Brett Kavanaugh, she has been thinking about the incident that happened to her. However, she wrote that she understands why someone would keep an incident like this a secret. Taking us back to her school days, she gives details about how a relative touched her inappropriately when she was seven. “My stepfather’s relative touched me between my legs and put my hand on his erect penis. Shortly after, I told my mother and stepfather, they sent me to India for a year to live with my grandparents. The lesson was: If you speak up, you will be cast out. These experiences have affected me and my ability to trust,” she confessed.

The Chennai-born author clarifies that she has nothing to gain by talking about it now, but is she had admitted to herself that she had been raped and opened up about it, she might have suffered less. “We all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence that for generations have allowed men to hurt women with impunity. I’m speaking now because I want us all to fight so that our daughters never know this fear and shame and our sons know that girls’ bodies do not exist for their pleasure and that abuse has grave consequences,” she concluded.

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