PADMA LAKSHMI - LAKSHMI DENIES INFIDELITY RUMOURS

Actress PADMA LAKSHMI has denied her marriage to author SALMAN RUSHDIE ended because she had an affair. The host of hit U.S. reality show Top Chef - who filed for divorce from the novelist in July (07) three years after they wed - was rumoured to have cheated on Rushdie with British royal Diana, Princess of Wales' former suitor Ted Forstmann. But the former model, 37, denies infidelity and is adamant there was no third party involved. She says, "What can I say? Salman is the greatest love of my life. We really tried to work it out. I wish I could tell you exactly why (it ended), but there was no 'That's it' moment. It was just like slowly getting very hard. There was no third party. I wasn't mean to his kids. There was no, like, infidelity." However, a source has told Vanity Fair magazine, "(Lakshmi and Forstmann) are an item. They're dating."