It’s the day before July 4th, my brain is inching ever so close to burnoutmini-vacation and I guess it’s only fair to report that Booker Prize-winning author, PEN president and former frequenter of safe houses Salman Rushdie and his fourth wife, TOP CHEF hostess Padma Lakshmi, are getting a divorce after three years of marriage.

In a statement from Rushdie’s spokeswoman, the Wylie Agency‘s Jin Auh, issued yesterday, Rushdie said that he “has agreed to divorce his wife, Padma Lakshmi, because of her desire to end their marriage” and requests that “the media respect his privacy at this difficult time”. No word on respecting Lakshmi’s privacy, though her spokesperson hasn’t issued a statement and it seems she’s moved on pretty well already.