Thrice married India-born writer Salman Rushdie and his 20-year younger girlfriend Padma Lakshmi have denied rumours of a split.

In a rejoinder to an article in The Independent on Sunday, they said, "The British media stories are untrue. We are still very much a couple."

Rushdie also denied a speculation in a British tabloid that he found Lakshmi too 'bird-brained' and she thought him too boring.

The couple, in their letter from New York, insisted they had never publicly vilified each other.

But they admitted that they were spending less time together than 'they would like because both have demanding careers as well as many demanding personal responsibilities'.

"Perhaps that is where the speculation arose," the letter said.