Padamsee was born the daughter of a Christian father and an Indian Jewish mother.

Her first husband was a Bengali Hindu man named Mr. Chowdhry. They had two children: a son named Ranjit Chowdhry who is an actor and a daughter named Rohini Chowdhry. This marriage ended in divorce when her children were still toddlers.

Pearl then married Alyque Padamsee, a Muslim who was a Kutchi Khoja Memon. Pearl thus became the first of his three wives. It is this marriage which brought her the name by which she is known professionally, and moreover, the profession itself: her second husband was active in English theatre, and Pearl became a part of the same group, promoting "English theatre" in Mumbai. Shortly after her second marriage, Pearl witnessed the death of her 10-year-old daughter, Rohini, who died after a wasting illness.

With Alyque Padamsee, Pearl had a daughter, Raell Padamsee, who runs her own theatre company in Mumbai.^[6][7] Pearl and Alyque were divorced very shortly after the birth of Raell. (Alyque then married Dolly Thakore (later divorced) and then Sharon Prabhakar.)

Pearl Padamsee died on 24 April 2000. She had been raised a Christian (her father was one) and had remained one throughout her life, notwithstanding marriages. She is buried at a Christian cemetery in Bandra.^[8]