Padma Lakshmi is ‘more confident’ about her body than ever at 53: ‘I would never go back to my 20s’

Padma Lakshmi tells Page Six Style she feels “more confident” about her body today than she did in her 20s. Courtesy Bare Necessities/Mega

Padma Lakshmi is proud of her curves.

The former “Top Chef” host, 53, released a lingerie collaboration with Bare Necessities on Thursday, and spoke with Page Six Style about embracing her “changing body” to pose in her skivvies for the collection’s campaign.

“Other than when I was pregnant and breastfeeding, I stayed the same size from my freshman year in college to about four years ago,” recalls Lakshmi, who began her career as a fashion model.

“A few years ago, I started going into perimenopause and my hormones changed, and my boobs got bigger. I wasn’t fitting into the bras that I had — and I had collected really beautiful bras!”

Lakshmi launched her lingerie collaboration with Bare Necessities on Thursday. Courtesy Bare Necessities/Mega “A few years ago, I started going into perimenopause and my hormones changed, and my boobs got bigger. I wasn’t fitting into the bras that I had — and I had collected really beautiful bras!” Lakshmi tells us. Courtesy Bare Necessities/Mega

So the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit stunner decided to create her own size-inclusive underwear line.

“I’ve modeled a lot of lingerie in my time, and I love lingerie. I love wearing really pretty things. But I also really like being comfortable. And I’ve found as my bust size has grown, there are fewer things that are available to me that I feel are both beautiful and comfortable,” she says.

“They’re either really gorgeous and uncomfortable … [or] they just look so matronly and orthopedic. And frankly, I didn’t feel that those were made for my tastes.”

“I’ve found as my bust size has grown, there are fewer things that are available to me that I feel are both beautiful and comfortable,” she says. Courtesy Bare Necessities/Mega Lakshmi began her career as a fashion model. Dave Allocca/Starpix/Shutterstock

Despite “not being as thin” as she was in her early modeling days — “all those years of ‘Top Chef’ took their toll,” Lakshmi jokes — the star stresses that she’s far “happier” today.

“I’m more confident now,” she says, “physically and otherwise. And I would never go back to my 20s, even if it meant I had a body that was more fit and skinny and tight and and high in all the right places. You know, I look OK now!”

“I would never go back to my 20s, even if it meant I had a body that was more fit and skinny and tight and and high in all the right places,” she says. Getty Images Lakshmi wishes we could have more open conversations about body change and menopause. Getty Images for Gold House

What’s more, the “Easy Exotic and Tangy” cookbook author wishes women could have more open conversations about body change and menopause.

“Nobody tells you this stuff,” she says. “And I think we should talk about it. I mean, everybody goes through it.”

Available now, the Padma X Bare Necessities collection includes lingerie, swim and lounge styles priced from $12 to $138. Band sizes range from 32 to 38, cups from C to G, clothing from S to XXL and swimwear from 6 to 16.