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After Padma Lakshmi’s smoking hot photoshoot in Sports Illustrated Swimsuit’s latest issue, she’s learned to give herself more grace in the aging process. At 52, she’s dishing out advice on what it means to be thriving in this season of life because she believes that the best is yet to come.
“My thighs may have been leaner, and my boobs were probably slightly higher in earlier parts of my life, but I have never felt better about myself,” the Top Chef host explained to SI Swimsuit. “I hope they see a full woman in all my facets and nuances and some contradictions.” Life is so good in her 50s that she promised, “I wouldn’t go back to my 20s if you paid me all the money in the world.”
Lakshmi revealed that there is so much that she is grateful for, and she appreciates it more at this age than she would have in her younger years. “I love where I am in my life and know my body is not perfect by any means, but I feel beautiful,” she continued. “I feel like I have a very lucky, fruitful, productive life.” That’s why she wants to make sure Millennials and Gen Z understand that “sometimes a whole new phase that’s even more exciting than anything you’ve ever experienced before can happen well over 40.”
The Love, Loss, and What We Ate author wants the younger generations to reframe aging in a way that makes the second half of life an opportunity, not a death sentence. Lakshmi is living proof that not only is a swimsuit feature possible at 52, but there are also endless possibilities to what she wants to accomplish in the coming decades — and we are here to root her on!
Before you go, click here to see celebrity women over 50 whose bikini photos are blowing our minds.
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