Simply Nigella

Season 1 BBC Lifestyle (*174) 21:30

Simply Nigella (2015-current) is the latest in a long line of TV cooking shows for 56-year-old homemaking queen Nigella Lawson. She’s had a love affair with food since childhood, when she helped her mom in the kitchen. And while she studied medieval and modern languages at Oxford University, graduating in 1982, Nigella never had formal cooking training and she refuses to call herself a chef. But that hasn’t stopped her from becoming a successful cookbook author and hosting countless shows. However, her road to fame hasn’t been smooth sailing…

The Big C Nigella’s heiress mom Vanessa died of liver cancer in 1985 and her first husband, journalist John Diamond, lost his battle with throat cancer in 2001. Nigella admits to falling into depression following John’s death but says that her daughter Cosima (21) and son Bruno (19) helped her overcome it. Assault Nigella married again, in 2003 to art collector Charles Saatchi but the marriage ended in divorce in 2013. The pair were snapped out at lunch with Charles grabbing Nigella by the throat during an argument, which was then investigated by the police. Her empire Nigella’s rolling in money with a net worth of about $15 million (R225 million). She’s published 10 cookbooks so far and owns kitchenware brand Living Kitchen. Not to mention all of her TV cooking shows… Reality TV judge She joined Iron Chef America (2005-current) as a judge in 2010 and will be a guest judge on MasterChef Australia (2009-current), where she impressed judge George Calombaris. “I only saw her as a home cook who knew nothing about food. Not anymore!” he gushes.