“Top Chef” host Padma Lakshmi told Adam Dell, the father of her baby Krishna Thea, that she hoped billionaire Teddy Forstmann “was the child’s biological father,” according to court papers.
Venture capitalist Dell, brother of computer king Michael Dell, claims in Manhattan Supreme Court that Lakshmi told him she’d been “sexually involved with Forstmann” as well as with Dell “during the time she became pregnant,” and “made clear . . . her hope that Forstmann was the child’s biological father.”
She allegedly refused to put Dell’s name on the birth certificate “to minimize, if not eliminate [Dell’s] role in Krishna’s life and to install Forstmann as Krishna’s father.” Dell is suing for full custody, claiming Lakshmi has limited his time with the 11-month-old. Sources say he now gets only seven hours a week with her.
The suit claims that “Forstmann has declared that [Lakshmi], Krishna and he are a ‘family’ and they wished [Dell] would [bleeping] disappear.”
Dell Inc. founder Michael Dell told us of his brother, “Adam is a loving and devoted father who only wants the best for his little girl. He was opposed to going to court because he wanted to protect Krishna from a public legal battle and held out hope that Padma would give Adam greater access. However, it became clear that she was never going to compromise, and the only way Adam was going to have more time with Krishna was by going to court.”
But a friend of Lakshmi said, “While she is the main caregiver, she has done everything to allow Adam to be a part of Krishna’s life.”
Lakshmi’s lawyer, Jay Silverstein, called Dell’s suit “inaccurate and misleading,” and said, “We were in the process of negotiating permanent visitation rights when Dell terminated negotiations and this suit was filed . . . He remains more interested in garnering media attention than focusing on the welfare of his daughter.”
A Forstmann rep declined to comment, but a source close to him said, “He has been carrying out the role of father since the moment Krishna was delivered into his arms.”