Nigella Lawson admits to using cocaine
Victim of ‘terrorism’ by ex-husband, TV cook says
Domestic diva Nigella Lawson told a jury on Wednesday that “acts of terrorism” by her ex-husband Charles Saatchi drove her to cocaine and cannabis use.
Lawson said she had succumbed to illegal drug use in 2010 when she felt “ashamed, isolated and in fear” and also admitted to smoking cannabis “with or in front of” her children.
On a day of intense drama at Isleworth Crown Court in west London, the TV cook said Saatchi was trying to “destroy” her by making public her drug use and hoped his “threats” would force her to go back to him.
When that failed to work, he used the drug allegations in an attempt to “salvage his reputation and savage mine,” she said.
Lawson’s admission came during the fraud trial of two former aides, but she repeatedly told a jury that she felt she was the one on trial and the victim of a “witch hunt” as she spent an entire day in the witness box.
She also gave her first account of the fight in a restaurant between her and Saatchi that led to the end of their marriage, saying he grabbed her by the throat in a fit of jealousy when she admired someone’s baby.
She claimed that when she told him the baby made her look forward to being a grandparent, he grabbed her and told her: “I’m the only person who should be giving you pleasure.”
Anthony Metzer QC, representing Elisabetta Grillo, one of two Italian sisters on trial, asked Lawson, “Are you or have you ever been a user of cocaine?”
She replied: “I have never been a drug addict, I have never been a habitual user. There were two times in my life when I used cocaine.
“One time was when my (first) husband (John Diamond), his cancer was terminal and he was introduced to it, thinking it would help, and I did on maybe six occasions join in with him.
“It was a small amount; nevertheless it gave him some escape. I, however, didn’t want escape because I needed to look after him and my children and also earn a living.”
She said she spoke to a palliative care doctor who told her to allow her husband to continue taking the drug if it helped him.
“There was another time I took cocaine, in July of 2010 I was having a very, very difficult time. I felt subjected to acts of intimate terrorism by Mr. Saatchi. I felt totally ashamed, isolated and in fear and just unhappy. …
“A friend of mine offered me some cocaine and I took it. It completely spooked me, I went to my GP straight away and my GP said that the idea that I am a drug addict or habitual user of cocaine is absolutely ridiculous.
“I didn’t have a drug problem, I had a life problem, and I needed to deal with it and went to a therapist to that end.”