Salman Rushdie’s ex-wife Padma Lakshmi said Sunday that the author is “pulling through” after being stabbed multiple times Friday.
“Relieved @SalmanRushdie is pulling through after Friday’s nightmare. You can finally breathe after being worried and wordless. Now hoping for swift healing,” Lakshmi, the host of Bravo’s “Top Chef,” wrote on Twitter.
Rushdie was off a ventilator and in good spirits Saturday, a day after being stabbed as he went to give a lecture in upstate Chautauqua, his agent confirmed.
The harrowing and shocking attack left Rushdie in serious condition, according to his agent Andrew Wylie, who said “The Satanic Verses” author will likely to lose an eye.
Agent said that the author also suffered from a damaged liver, and severed nerves in one arm.
Hadi Matar, 24, an alleged attacker, pleaded not guilty in the attempted-murder case and assault charges for the attack on a retreat and education center that was nonprofit.
Prosecutors said Matar had preplanned the stabbing, getting an advance pass to Rushdie’s lecture with a fake ID.
Matar of Fairview, NJ, harbored sympathies toward Iran, law-enforcement sources told The Post.
In 1989, the hardline leader of Iran, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for the British-Indian writer‘s death after the publication of his novel, “The Satanic Verses.” Khomeini died later that year, but Rushdie remained in hiding for about the next decade, till Iran’s government denounced the death sentence. However, the fatwa wasn’t repealed.
Lakshmi Rushdie met in 1999, and they were married from 2004 until 2007.
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