The TV host opened up about the “anxiety” she feels around her 16-year-old daughter “leaving the nest” in the next few years

NEED TO KNOW

• Padma Lakshmi says her daughter Krishna is very independent due to the way she was raised, but shares the reason she had “way more freedom” as a teen than her daughter
• Lakshmi says she partnered with Lyft Teen to give Krishna more freedom while maintaining peace of mind
• The TV host reflects on her mixed feelings as Krishna approaches her senior year of high school

Padma Lakshmi is sharing insight into how she maintains her daughter’s independence and her own peace of mind.

The television host, 55, tells PEOPLE while discussing her partnership with Lyft Teen that though she raised her daughter Krishna, 16, to be “incredibly independent,” she also experienced more “freedom” than her daughter when she was her age.

“My daughter’s incredibly independent, you know, I’ve raised her to be that way,” Lakshmi says.

“She grew up on set. I took her everywhere with me as a single mom,” she adds. “I didn’t want to be away from her, and that was fine.”

She adds that the only child is “very adaptable” and “gets along with people of all ages,” handling herself “well.”

“But I will say I, at her age, had way more freedom,” Lakshmi admits. 

She says the difference stems in part from transportation.

“I was driving at her age, but she’s not driving,” she says, adding that that fact is partly due to Krishna being “a New York City kid” with fewer opportunities to learn to drive.

However, she says that even if Krishna had a license, she would want to “ease her into it,” rather than going on the highway super quickly.

The mother says she experiences being pulled in multiple directions as a parent.

“We talk about children’s growing pains, but I think adults have growing pains too with their children, and that’s certainly true for me,” Lakshmi says. 

“She’s growing up, she wants her freedom, she wants to assert herself and feel like she has some level of autonomy,” she adds. “That’s always been hard for me, but it’s also part of parenting to let your child grow up, to give them more responsibility in baby steps so that they can navigate the world.”

“I also want to be able to build her judgment and also her sense of responsibility,” she says.

For the family, Lyft Teen provides the best of both worlds.

The television host shared an Instagram post with Lyft in which she makes coconut chutney for Krishna while watching her daughter’s location on the app, noting that the platform requires a yearly background check for drivers on Lyft Teen.

These features, Lakshmi tells PEOPLE, mean that “having Lyft is a way to give her freedom but give me the peace of mind.”

View this post on Instagram

The model shares that since she and her daughter live in New York City, they can walk or take the subway, but she appreciates the platform’s flexibility for traveling in cold temperatures or late at night.

“Especially when it’s later at night, you know, as well I always want to know where she is, and I can do that through technology now in a way that my mother never could,” she says.

The television host says the platform has “kind of revolutionized my life, both from a peace of mind perspective but also a time efficiency perspective.”

She shares that her 16-year-old daughter goes to vocal lessons or to meet with her tutor, as well as to meet friends from across the city after school. She even “has to traverse the city every morning and afternoon” to get to school, which she often uses Lyft for.

Lakshmi says this year, Krishna’s junior year, has “a time crunch” with things like SAT prep and school musical rehearsals, for which she would want Krishna to use Lyft Teen if she got out late.

The America’s Culinary Cup creator also shared her mixed feelings about Krishna approaching senior year. 

“My general anxiety is about her leaving the nest, obviously, you know, she’s my only child, we’re incredibly close,” she says. 

“I don’t have that much time left with her, about… two years, I would say I have, I guess, but I can feel the clock ticking,” she adds.

“I want her to thrive. I want her to spread her wings. I look forward to her flourishing as a young adult and beyond,” she says. “I just hope we always stay close.”

She adds that Krishna is “evolving so quickly.”

“Sometimes she goes to her dad’s house, and then she comes back and she’s a new person,” she says. “She’s taller, she’s got different opinions, she has, of course, and you know, rightly so, been exposed to more of life and people, and it’s astonishing to watch a human being grow and just to bear witness to who they become every day.” 

#Padma #Lakshmi #Shares #Freedom #Teen #Incredibly #Independent #16YearOld #Daughter #Krishna #Exclusive