Days after writer Salman Rushdie was attacked in New York, his ex-wife, Indian-American writer and model Padma Lakshmi took to Twitter to wish him a speedy recovery.
The Satanic Verses writer has been recuperating from multiple stab wounds inflicted upon him by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar on Friday, at a literary event in the Chautauqua Institution in New York.
Lakshmi heaved a breath of relief in her tweet,
In an interview with People, Lakshmi recounts how she was awestruck when she first met the author in 1999.
The couple hit it off after their first date in Central Park, following which they moved in together in 2000.
Rushdie had been married four times in the past, the first of which was with the literature officer of the Arts Council of England, Clarissa Luard, from 1976 to 1987, with whom he fathered a son Zafar in 1979.
In between wives, he left Luard in the mid-1980s for the Australian writer Robyn Davidson, to whom he was introduced by their mutual friend Bruce Chatwin.
His second wife was the American novelist Marianne Wiggins; they were married in 1988 and divorced in 1993.
British editor and author Elizabeth West was Rushdie’s third wife, with whom he fathered a son, Milan in 1997.
Finally in 2004, he married the Top Chef host, having dated the model for five years while still married to Elizabeth West.
Lakshmi recalls having the most wonderful first couple years married to the author, owing to their shared Indian heritage.
Soon cracks began to surface between the two which Lakshmi ascribes to her undiagnosed endometriosis. The painful condition led to a lack of physical intimacy between the two and left Rushdie claiming he’d made a “bad investment”
Lakshmi has since co-founded the Endometriosis Foundation of America to raise awareness about the severity of the condition.
Lakshmi and Rushdie have maintained their friendship despite the split these many years.
Rushdie has been taken off the ventilator but remains under critical care and is undergoing extensive medical treatment for his injuries.