What you need to know
Padma Lakshmi’s daughter Krishna is planning to make an announcement about her name.
The 15-year-old and the Top Chef alum, 55, stood side by side around a stove in an Instagram video shared on Saturday, Dec. 20. “Wait, can I do a PSA? Can you please stop calling me Little Hands? That’s so weird,” the high school student announced as Krisha nibbled on Padma’s fried latteke.
Little Hands is a nickname the cookbook author has given the teenager for years, and it’s common for celebrity chefs to refer to her in their Instagram captions.
“Is Little Hands retiring?” someone behind the camera asked.
“Yes!” replied Krishna enthusiastically. “I know. At first it was for privacy reasons, but now it’s so weird. I don’t think that’s my name, baby.”
The photographer said, “Okay, let’s pay tribute to Little Hands.” “A name,” she quickly added.
A clip of young Krishna that Padma shares with Adam Dell is edited into a video, with Sarah McLachlan’s “Angel” playing.
“People will come up to me and say, ‘Are you Little Hands?’ And I’ll say, ‘No.’ I’m afraid that’s not my name,” Krishna continued. “You’re almost 16, come on.”
Finally, Padma speaks for the first time in the clip, simply saying, “I understand.”
Followers had a lot to say about Padma’s short response, with many praising her for her “heartbreaking” conversation.
“Yeah, I feel a little sad when I think about Padma. I know why, but it’s still kind of sad…she’s growing up 🙏🏽,” one person wrote. Another person applauded the pair’s mature conversation, with one commenting: “This is a real mother-daughter moment. So much respect to you both!”
Krishna brought up the idea of dropping the nickname during a conversation with Vogue India magazine, where the mother-daughter duo appeared on the cover of their September-October issue.
The girl spoke about her aspirations for music and acting, adding that she hopes to be “taken seriously” and known beyond her mother.
“I want to do something that centers around who I am now, rather than who I was as Little Hands. My hands are not that small anymore,” Krishna told the outlet.
