Coquettish, me? No, it’s just down to clever editing claims Nigella
WELL before anyone sniggered at Mary Berry’s soggy bottoms, it was Nigella Lawson who was the queen of innuendo cooking.
Viewers watched in delight as she claimed to ‘wallow in pleasure’ over salted caramel and admitted that she was a ‘complete tart’.
Miss Lawson, however, claims that she is in fact a ‘straightforward person’ who did not even understand the double entendres that helped to make her a household name.
Speaking at the Oxford Literary Festival, the 57-year-old TV cook also said that her sexy reputation had been a result of clever editing by the production company.
She said: ‘I never ever wanted to be on TV – I’m not a performer. When that first series came out I was astonished to be told I was suggestive and coquettish and so forth because the reality is I’m a straightforward person. I haven’t got a coquettish manner.
‘I want to say two things. One is that television is glamorising so they always make you look nicer than you look. Two is that it’s an editor’s medium, so obviously how you put something together will reinforce that.
‘But I’ll do something and people will say it’s rude or a double entendre and I feel like saying, “Can you please explain it to me, I don’t get it?” ’
A video entitled ‘Nigella talks dirty’, a compilation of Miss Lawson’s naughtiest moments, has garnered more than seven million views on YouTube. The former journalist, who has two children with late husband John Diamond, is notorious for her indulgent recipes which she cooks amid much fingerlicking and lip-smacking.
But her most recent series, called Simply Nigella, was seen as a move away from her usual rich fare and showcased healthier alternatives for a more modern audience.
The series followed a tumultuous few years for the cook, in which she was embroiled in a messy court case with two former employees during which she admitted that she had taken cocaine.
She also split from second husband Charles Saatchi after the art collector was seen apparently grabbing her throat outside his favourite restaurant in Mayfair. Despite a difficult time, however, Miss Lawson has retained her mantle as a ‘domestic goddess’.