In a 2016 interview with People, Padma Lakshmi revealed that, in high school, she was bullied for her appearance, what she carried to school for lunch, as well as her name. She recalled how she once had an egg cracked on her head and had her face punched by a classmate.
While talking to People about her 2016 memoir, "Love, Loss, And What We Ate," Lakshmi noted that she was often teased for her height and long neck, and "giraffe," "Skeletor," and "E.T." were only a few of the names she used to be called. The fear of being linked with third-world slums and diseases made her feel the need to change herself into someone who'd fit in with her classmates and seem more American. As a result, for the four years she spent in high school, she went by Angelique.
However, changing her name wasn't enough to make her classmates treat her like she was one of them. She told People, "I didn't feel any different, I didn't feel any less American, even though I ate rice and curry or even though my name was Padma or I spoke to my mother in a different language, I felt as American as anybody else in my classroom. But they didn't feel I was as American."
