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The new woman in Salman Rushdie's life

February 09, 2009 16:10 IST

Every year -- while the rest of us are celebrating love -- Valentine's Day holds an awful significance for the Mumbai-born Sir Salman Rushdie.

You see, the date was February 14, 1989 -- Valentine's Day -- when the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, issued a fatwa that marked Rushdie for death for his supposed blasphemy against Islam in the 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. And, while in recent years the actual threat seems to have waned, technically Rushdie's life hasn't been safe ever since.

So how has Salman reacted to the twentieth anniversary of that most deadly of V-day cards? By hitching himself to another beautiful woman, of course. This time, it's up-n-coming actress Pia Glenn.

Yes, like a fine wine, the 61 year old author seems to get better with age. Or at least the lovely ladies seem to think so.

Fresh off his fourth divorce (uber-hot model Padma Lakshmi), lately Rushdie has been seen kissing Scarlet Johansson in music videos and generally being the toast of the town.

Now comes word of a relationship with the impossibly long-limbed, strikingly beautiful Pia Glenn, who plays Condoleezza Rice in Will Ferrell's Broadway show, 'You're Welcome, America: A Final Night With George W. Bush.'

And while the couple's bios might not match up -- she, 32 years old, six-feet-tall and from Harlem and he 29 years her senior, 5 foot 9 and from India -- love always finds a way. At the opening to 'You're Welcome, America', the fledgling couple presented quite the captivating image.

Hopefully, for Sir Salman's sake, this relationship will last!