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Salman Rushdie happy with 4th wife

LONDON, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Salman Rushdie, whose 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" caused the Iranian ayatollah to threaten his life, now lives in London a changed man, a report said.

Hiding for years after the fatwa -- essentially a death sentence -- was issued, Rushdie lives in a trendy London neighborhood with his fourth wife, actress Padma Lakshmi, 32, whom he married in 2004, The Telegraph reported.

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The 59-year-old Rushdie claims to be both lucky and changed. "Her big criticism of me is that I am too intense and that I need to chill. Good advice," Rushdie said. "But she has made me happy and that's nice."

Lakshmi's career has taken off and she is currently in Los Angeles making a TV series.

"It is the hardest thing because the person you want to talk to is the person who is not there. But at the same time I am very proud of her," he said.

Rushdie is at work on a new novel about Renaissance Florence and 16th century India.

At one time, being under a fundamentalist threat was Rushdie's unique situation; now everyone is, the Telegraph reported.

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"You just have to get on with your life. You know, in the end, that is all you can do," he said.

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