Padma Lakshmi says her latest modeling gig was a real treat.
The model and foodie opened up about landing her very first Sports Illustrated swimsuit shoot at the age of 52 when she stopped by “Jimmy Kimmel Live” on Monday.
Though the “Top Chef” host has spent years on camera, she never had the chance to work with the magazine.
So no one was more surprised than Lakshmi when SI reached out for its 2023 Swimsuit Issue.
Describing how much the job meant to her, Lakshmi told Kimmel, “I would have killed for [Sports Illustrated] when I was in my 20s and a model because it is the holy grail. And they never even called me for anything like this and I really thought that ship had passed, to be honest.”
“So, when I got the call now, a few months ago, I was like, ‘Really?’” she said with a laugh. “I did not believe the news on the phone and then I started freaking out and I’m like, ‘I’ve got to go to the gym.’”
Lakshmi was already in workout mode after returning from work on the latest season of “Top Chef: All Stars” in England.
The star also revealed how filling it can be to film the Bravo cooking competition, telling Kimmel that she and co-hosts Tom Colicchio and Gail Simmons will end up eating upward of 9,000 calories on shoot days.
While Lakshmi couldn’t appear more confident in her Sports Illustrated shoot, the bestselling cookbook author admitted during an interview for the magazine that she is no stranger to self-doubt.
Talking about how she channels those feelings, she said, “I get my drive from my insecurities.”
“I think it’s the only way I know to calm that voice in my head that says, ‘You’re not that smart. You haven’t done that much,’” she continued. “You know? So in order to combat that feeling, I try to stay productive. I think of ways that I can generate my own work.”
Watch the full interview below. Lakshmi’s story about Sports Illustrated comes around the five-minute mark: