Nigella likens split to losing a layer of skin
NIGELLA Lawson broke down in tears during a TV interview as she likened the break-up of her marriage to “having a layer of skin removed”.
The television chef also indicated that there were stories she could tell about Charles Saatchi, her former husband, but had no plans to do so.
“I could say things and they would be indiscreet, but I don’t want to,” she told Michael McIntyre on his BBC One talk show, which will be broadcast tomorrow.
Her attitude contrasts with that of Saatchi, who made public declarations about his imploding marriage, including the allegation — vehemently denied by Lawson — that she was “off her head” on drugs during their time together.
Lawson, 54, appeared on the programme to discuss her cookery books and share anecdotes about food. But she became emotional when asked gentle questions about how her life was going after her divorce from Saatchi and a court case in which she had to lay bare details of her stormy marriage.
She replied: “Well, I’m alive. You know, I’ve had better times . . . life has its dips and it can get better. You can’t fight it.”
She added: “It’s spring and I’m feeling better and I’m very happy to be here.”
She said events of the past year had left her with greater empathy for others going through hard times.
“We all gossip. I don’t take a particularly lofty view. [But] perhaps, having a layer of skin removed, I’m also more aware of other people’s misfortunes.”
Lawson was asked whether she felt buoyed by the public support for her. “I try not to live in the public sphere,” she replied. “You have your own life. If anything, I’ve stopped reading papers, which I find difficult because I was a journalist so long and I’m a bit of a print fanatic.
“I’m not an innocent — I understand how it works. I just don’t involve myself. I don’t speak and I don’t comment.
“The real truth is that if you don’t read things and you don’t get too involved, it doesn’t enter your bloodstream — you don’t get contaminated.”
She added: “I really think that if the major thing in your life is what people who don’t know you think, then you’re living your life wrong.”
Lawson’s marriage fell apart in a most public way when her multimillionaire art collector husband was photographed clutching her throat outside a London restaurant in June 2013.
Saatchi dismissed it as a “playful tiff”, but Lawson moved out and the couple divorced two months later.
Lawson’s latest venture is the reissue of her cookery books as the Nigella Collection.
During the McIntyre interview, Lawson said she had found a new house. She will share it with her children, Cosima, 20, and Bruno, 17.