Almost exactly a year ago, Padma Lakshmi announced that she would be stepping down as host of the hit competition series , a role she held for over 17 years and 19 seasons—that’s approximately 300 “please pack your knives and go’s”. Longtime fans of the show (myself included) were sad to see her leave, but also, we got it: That’s a long time to have the same job, and Lakshmi deserved a break. But she doesn’t appear to be taking time off.
Lakshmi’s been hard at work writing a cookbook and promoting the latest season of her Hulu show . And on June 6, she found a way to add yet another job to her jam-packed calendar: lingerie designer, thanks to a collaboration with . At a launch event for the line, Lakshmi tells SELF that she loves staying busy and she loves to be “on”—but even an extrovert needs to power down every now and again, and for Lakshmi looks like unstructured time.
“I’m not one of those creative people who are like, ‘I hate everybody.’ I want to go out. I love talking to people,” Lakshmi says.
“But it also does drain me...
and lately I’ve just felt spent. I have no more ideas; I have nothing to say. And the way that I combat that is just by creating literal and figurative space for myself.
” While Lakshmi says she loves a (and tries to find time for at least one each month), her moments of zen don’t need to look any specific way. “For a lot of people, self-care involves candles and meditation,” she says. “I could be eating .
