NIGELLA Lawson is one of the world’s most recognisable TV chefs.
Her career has seen to her private life becoming public, with moments such as her previous marriage and cocaine scandal once being high-profile news.
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Who is Nigella Lawson and how old is she?
Nigella Lawson was born on January 6, 1960, making her 61, and has made her name as a food writer, gourmet and journalist.
She is the daughter of Nigel Lawson, a former Chancellor of the Exchequer and leading member of the Tory party, and Vanessa (née Salmon) Lawson, whose family owned the J. Lyons and Co. food and catering business.
Nigella rose to fame with her second cookbook How To Be A Domestic Goddess, which won her the British Book Award for Author of the Year.
She has fronted numerous cooking shows in the UK and the US including Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen, Nigella Bites and Nigella Feasts and has 10 cookbooks.
Her cookware range, Living Kitchen, is valued at £7 million while she has sold more than three million cookery books worldwide to date.
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Is Nigella Lawson married?
No, she hasn’t remarried since her marriage to Charles Saatchi ended.
Since then she’s kept her romantic life out of the press.
It’s not known if she’s in a relationship.
When was she married to Charles Saatchi?
Nigella married Charles in 2003, two years after the death of her first husband John Diamond from throat cancer in 2001.
However, the couple split in 2012 after The Sunday People published photographs of Charles grabbing Nigella by the throat outside a restaurant in Mayfair.
Charles dismissed the incident as nothing more than “a playful tiff” but he was cautioned for assault following a police investigation into the incident.
Nigella moved out of their home after the incident and their divorce was finalised within six weeks.
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What was the cocaine scandal?
More details about Nigella’s married life to Charles Saatchi emerged during the trial of Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo who were accused of swindling £685,000 from Mr Saatchi using company credit cards.
The twins, who were found not guilty, claimed they were allowed to spend vast sums on shopping trips to New York and luxury hotels as long as they kept Nigella’s cocaine use secret.
During the trial, Nigella admitted to snorting cocaine and smoking cannabis but insisted she had “never been an addict”.
She said: “I’ve never been a drug addict — I have never been a habitual user.”
Nigella told the jury she had used cocaine on seven occasions. The first six times were with her first husband John Diamond, who was dying from cancer at the time.
She added that during the last year of her crumbling marriage to the 70-year-old millionaire art collector she snorted cocaine just once.
“I feel ashamed but I have to be honest. I found it made an intolerable situation tolerable. It is a false friend and it is not a good idea,” she said.
“This is not something I’m pleased about but I felt I needed to get through my life. And it did help. I freed myself from a brilliant but brutal man.
“I’m now totally — cannabis, cocaine, any drug — free.”
Nigella accused Saatchi of using the Grillos’ trial to make the cocaine claims and start a “witch hunt” against her.
During her testimony, Nigella also branded claims that ex-husband Charles Saatchi was checking her nose for cocaine during their infamous restaurant row as his “lie”.
She said: “He told everyone he was taking cocaine out of my nose at Scott’s when that was a lie.”
Nigella insisted the incident outside the London restaurant — that led to their divorce — was prompted by someone passing by with a baby.
She told the court: “Somebody walked by with a very cute baby in a stroller and I said, ‘I am so looking forward to having grandchildren’.
“He grabbed me by the throat and said, ‘I am the only person you should be concerned with. I am the only person who should be giving you pleasure’.
“That is what happened.”
When Mr Saatchi took to the stand, he told the court: “I was not gripping, strangling or throttling her.
“I was holding her head by the neck to make her focus, can we be clear?
“Was it about her drug use? No.”
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What are her best recipes?
Nigella has numerous iconic recipes from Coca-Cola glazed ham to chicken Cosima.
She is also known for her luscious Chocolate Guinness cake and decadent chocolate brownies.
The 60-year-old also has a go-to recipe for an amazing roast chicken which her mother taught her.
Nigella has lots of recipes on her website.
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