Padma Lakshimi: "I was raped at 16" and didn't report it

SCREEN CAPTURE / NBC

Food critic and television host Padma Lakshi

THE SENATE CONFIRMATION hearings for Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanagh has turned into an extension of the #MeToo debate and demonstrates once again, the huge gulf between men and women.

Padma Lakshimi, host of Top Chef and international model, has come forward in an New York Times oped today (Sept. 26) and a series of follow-up tweets to explain why she didn't report the three sexual assaults in her life that she ddn't report.

 The model-actress said she was motivated to speak out in the wake of two women accusing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of inappropriate sexual conduct. Kavanaugh has denied both women's accusations. She said she decided to make the incidents public as a show of support for Prof. Christine Blasey Ford, who is alleging that Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her 36 years ago when he was 17 and she was 15.

She relates in her oped that she was raped at age 16 while dating a 23-year old co-worker. But besides getting raped, she told of two other incidents in which she was sexually assaulted. The first incident was when she was just 7-years old.

"When I was 7 years old, my stepfather's relative touched me between my legs and put my hand on his erect penis," wrote Lakshmi, who also recently tweeted about the incident as part of #WhyIDidntReport. "Shortly after I told my mother and stepfather, they sent me to India for a year to live with my grandparents. The lesson was: If you speak up, you will be cast out."

Since Ford's revelation, two other women have come forward about being sexually victimized by a drunk Kavanaugh, who has strongly denied all of the assertions.

Donald Trump and other senators who support Kavanaugh couldn't fathom why someone wouldn't report those assaults to the police right away instead of keeping quiet about them for decades.

"I have nothing to gain by talking about this," Lakshmi wrote in the NYTimes. "But we all have a lot to lose if we put a time limit on telling the truth about sexual assault and if we hold on to the codes of silence that for generations have allowed men to hurt women with impunity."

Lakshimi's representative that the television personality would not make any further comment on her oped or the iincidents in her life, but she continued to post on twitter in response to her article.

Lakshimi tweets about the toll the telling of her hidden story has taken on her and her family, including her own 8-year old daughter, who she has instructed to speak out if anyone inappropriately touches her.

Professor Ford is scheduled to testify in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee Thursday (Sept. 27) along with a rebuttal from Kavanaugh. The 11 GOP members of the committee have hired a woman prosecutor to question the California psychology professor because of the optics that would present of 11 men ganging up and attacking a woman assault victim. 

Instead of a full investigation by the committee or the FBI on the allegations against the nominee, a vote on Kavanaugh will be held on Friday according to committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: If you or someone you know are a victim of sexual assault, you are encouraged to seek help at the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 800-656-HOPE. It is free and confidential, 24/7 or click here.

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