Padma Lakshmi, 50, stuns in blue string bikini: 'Living proof that age is just a label'

2018 Vanity Fair Oscar Party – Arrivals – Beverly Hills, California, U.S., 04/03/2018 – Actress Padma Lakshmi.    REUTERS/Danny Moloshok
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Padma Lakshmi marked daylight saving time with a throwback photo of herself stretching out in a blue string bikini.

In a Friday Instagram photo, the 50-year-old Top Chef host lounged by the water in the two-piece suit during sundown. “Glad the sun is setting later,” she captioned the post with the hashtag #fbf."

Among the fire emojis that crowded the post, people wrote, "The goddess," "Living proof that age is just a label" and "When the sunset isn’t the highlight of the picture."

Lakshmi is wonderfully candid about the work it takes to stay in such great shape. In an interview last year with Women’s Health, she revealed her mostly plant-based diet and her typical rule of thumb to split her plate into halves: 50% fruits and vegetables; and 50% simple carbs, lean protein, and starch.

With respect to exercise, she tries to work out five times a week. “Pilates changed my body,” she told the magazine. “It made me strong in places I didn’t know I needed to be. I have a butt now that I didn’t have during my modeling career!”

Friday’s post is certainly not Lakshmi’s first bikini pic on social media, however, she often uses those gorgeous images as opportunities to send inspirational messages. On her 48th birthday, the New York Times best-selling author shared a photo of herself wearing a bikini on a boat with an empowering caption.

“It takes time to develop as a person. Sometimes in the entertainment industry I don’t think we give women that chance,” she wrote. “Men become distinguished and women become ‘old news.’ In truth, I feel better about my body now, even after breastfeeding, gravity, etc. than I did in my 20’s. I’m not riddled with insecurity as I was. I eat well and bust my butt in the gym. My home life and my career are doing just fine and I’ve learned to be thankful for what I have rather than focus on what I don’t."

And on her most recent birthday, the mother-of-one captioned another bikini post, “50 is the new 30. I feel like I’m just getting started.”

"I just think the female body is beautiful in its natural state," Lakshmi told Us Weekly in 2019. "I don’t believe in — I know we all have to do things to make it all smooth and beautiful. But really at the end of the day, who cares?”

Related: Padma Lakshmi turns 50 in a bikini

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