Padma Lakshmi says after her rape revelatory op-ed piece, a woman's assaulter apologized
Padma Lakshmi has said her New York Times op-ed, where she revealed her sexual assault story, has prompted an alleged attacker to apologize to his victim. Lakshmi, a prominent Indian-American model host, had recently said that she was raped by her boyfriend at the age of 16 and she wanted to bring out this secret in the wake of allegations of sexual assault on US Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
Speaking at the Open Endoscopy Forum, the 48-year-old host said one woman, who read her article, approached her to tell her story and how it affected her. Lakshmi said the woman narrated that her assaulter apologized to her in an email recently.
"He sent me the link to the article and he said, 'I'm sorry. I didn't know then what I know now and I shouldn't have ever done that to you. And I apologize'," the woman told Lakshmi.
The former model also said she has no regrets about the article and telling her story to the world. "I'm very glad I did it. The stories women and men have shared with me have become some of the most moving things I have read, felt, discussed in my life," she said.
"I had a family write to me yesterday morning about their daughter who was raped last week on campus. And she went to campus police and did all of the things you need to do: rape kit, examined. And then her father wrote to me because he said she was having second thoughts about pressing charges. I don't blame her and I don't think anybody can blame her. It certainly underlined the truth," she added.
(With PTI inputs)
