We thought everyone knew about the news this week that Padma Lakshmi, noted endometriosis sufferer, had been miraculously impregnated by a mystery suitor. It was in “Page Six” earlier this week! And People magazine! Grub Street had already mocked up what the child might look like! But apparently, none of those are required reading for Lakshmi’s ex, Salman Rushdie, whom we ran into last night at the Spin.com Book Club event for Housing Works. In our defense, we didn’t start out by asking how the author, who divorced from Padma two years ago but has his own adorable son, Milan, from a previous relationship, felt about his ex-wife’s newly fruited womb. We asked about some smart stuff first, like what he thought of Qaddafi’s speech at the U.N.“What, the interminable and stupid one?” he said. Uh, yeah, we responded. “I thought it was interminable and stupid.” Oh. What about the whole business with his tent? “Well, it was nice that someone finally found him a hotel to stay in,” he responded. Conversation kind of ground to a halt there, so we came out with it. So, what did he think about Padma being preggers? “Is she?” he said, and paused. “Good for her. I wish her well.”
