Beddable Rushdie

Having met Salman Rushdie on a few occasions, it's hardly a stretch to say he's not quite in the same league as, say, Señor Pitt. However, that hasn't stopped him from shacking up with the downright lovely, younger, and arm-scarred, Padma Lakshmi.

But we never knew about his son, Zafar. Until today's Page Six came along.

"All the beautiful women want to talk to Dad, so I stand close and bask in the sunlight," the son said in London's Sunday Times. "Beauty loves brains."

Hey, that's what we always say!

Okay, all's fine and well, until the end of the spot when Zafar gets on the topic of the religious death wish that plagued his father for having written the Satanic Verses:

The fatwa was fun for me at first. I was 9, and I came home one day to find police in the house," Zafar told the paper. "It was really cool to be around these big guys with guns. But I soon found out enough to realize there was a big deal going on, and it wasn't good . . . I'd answer the phone and this voice would say: 'We've got your number. We know where you are and we're going to come and kill you' . . . I lost my childhood innocence early.

No memoir needed. --ANDREW BAST

(Rushdie photo by Andrew Bast.)