op Chef" host Padma Lakshmi is steeped in a custody fight, and the ingredients are plenty complex.
Venture capitalist Adam Dell sued Wednesday for custody of Lakshmi's 11-month-old daughter. He says a paternity test has shown he's the infant's father, but Lakshmi is sidelining him and trying to cast her current flame, financier Ted Forstmann, in that role.
Dell wants custody of the baby, and he's pointing sharply to Lakshmi's career and globe-trotting lifestyle as a reason, saying she's "either unable or unwilling to moderate either her social or business travel" for the child's sake.
A lawyer for Lakshmi, Jay D. Silverstein, called Dell's claims "inaccurate and misleading," and her camp blasted the public airing of her and her daughter's personal life.
"Ms. Lakshmi's sole interest lies in preserving the privacy and welfare of her daughter and in working out a fair and amicable agreement out of the media's glare," spokeswoman Christina Papadopoulos said.
Forstmann declined to comment through his office.
The dispute, which has simmered for months in gossip pages, involves a perhaps unlikely trio of prominent people.
Best known for her "Top Chef" role, Lakshmi, 40, is also a former model and an ex-wife of novelist Salman Rushdie.
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