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Top Chef's Padma Lakshmi's painful custody battle

By April MacIntyre Jan 27, 2011, 20:59 GMT

08/29/2010 - Padma Lakshmi - 2010 Primetime Emmy Awards - HBO\'s Post Award Reception - Arrivals - The Plaza at the Pacific Design Center - Los Angeles, CA, USA © Keadrick D. Washington / PR Photos

Celebrity host Padma Lakshmi is not a fame hog; we don't see her on too many red carpets, or getting in and out of restaurants with crushes of paparazzi around her.

So when the news that the tall Indian beauty, once the wife of writer and political target Salman Rushdie, was pregnant, it was a shock.

Lakshmi is Tom Colicchio's right hand on Bravo's "Top Chef," and outside of one racy Carl's Jr. burger ad, the ex model is pretty low key.

After the news of her pregnancy was announced, she was mum on who the father was. Now the anonymous dad is fighting back through the courts of New York, and is very much known.

Venture capitalist Adam Dell, brother of Michael Dell, the computer mogul, is Lakshmi's 11 month-old daughter Krishna's father, and he wants to be in the picture of Krishna's life.

"She's a single working mother who is trying very hard to have a peaceful and calm environment for her daughter," a source close to the "Top Chef" host told People magazine. "The recent events are making it difficult."

The notice of the custody filing took Lakshmi by surprise according to several news reports.  Her attorney Jay D. Silverstein told People that "she is saddened and gravely disappointed that Mr. Dell has chosen a very public means of filing his petition with the court rather than doing so in a confidential or sealed manner, which is customary in cases involving a very young child."