‘Top Chef’ Host Padma Lakshmi Claims She Was Raped at 16

"Top Chef" host Padma Lakshmi says she was raped at 16 and never reported it. She broke her silence in an op-ed for The New York Times. She said she was assaulted by a 23-year-old man she was dating. “He knew that I was a virgin and that I was unsure of when I would be ready to have sex,” she wrote. “On New Year's Eve, just a few months after we first started dating, he raped me.” She said she pleaded with him, "Please don't do this.” Like so many others, she said she stayed quiet afterward.