How tasteless!
Michelin-star chef savages ‘public schoolgirl’ Nigella in four-letter rant
NIGELLA Lawson was subjected to a four-letter torrent of abuse from another celebrity chef over a review of one of his restaurants.
Jason Atherton denounced her as a ‘ f****** public schoolgirl’ who is ‘full of s***’ over an almost innocuous three- word remark she posted on Instagram.
she commented: ‘excellent, as ever’ in response to critic Marina o’Loughlin’s poor review of one of Atherton’s establishments.
It clearly touched a raw nerve, with Atherton ranting: ‘Nigella is full of s***! I was watching her on saturday on the TV and she does my head in. some of the stuff that comes out of her mouth – you’ve just read that on the internet. What are you on about?’
Atherton, who owns four Michelin- starred restaurants, hit out at Miss Lawson as he discussed his 12 ‘festive tips’ for the Christmas period in The
Times. He claimed Miss o’Loughlin had portrayed his newest restaurant, The Betterment at The Biltmore Mayfair in Grosvenor square, as a ‘Mayfair w***fest’.
enraged by Miss Lawson’s contribution, Atherton said: ‘Hang on a minute! you eat at scott’s every day for lunch, you were married to one of the wealthiest men in the country, you didn’t f****** mind w**** Mayfair then.
He was referring to 59-year-old Miss Lawson’s former husband and advertising boss Charles saatchi and another fashionable Mayfair restaurant.
He said she was trying to ‘look cool to stay relevant’. Last night he apologised following an online blacklash from fans of Miss Lawson who said she was a ‘national treasure’ and the ‘ heart, soul and passion of family cookery’.
Miss o’Loughlin also defended Miss Lawson, saying Atherton ‘seems insanely triggered by Nigella leaving a comment under my review. Nice chap...’
she had described Atherton’s latest venture as ‘ clinical’, ‘derivative and old-fashioned’.
Atherton, 48, grew up in skegness, Lincolnshire, before moving to London to become a chef at 16. The married father of two daughters has a series of restaurants in this country and overseas. He made his move into TV earlier this year with BBC2 series The Chef’s Brigade, in which he trained ten chefs to work as a team rather than pitting them against one another.
Miss Lawson has sold £50million-worth of cookbooks and fronted dozens of TV shows.
yesterday, in a statement to the Bloomberg news website, Atherton apologised. It said: ‘Jason deeply regrets the comments… about Nigella Lawson. He holds Nigella in the highest esteem and has written to her privately to sincerely apologise.’
Miss Lawson was contacted for comment.