It may be Thanksgiving weekend stateside, but in the UK, it’s still business (and gossip) as usual. Here’s a photo of Charles Saatchi arriving at court on Friday afternoon. Look at him all acting like Rico Suave in his fancy suit. Dude thinks he’s in control, but he’s ultimately making a fool of himself. Nice suit though.
For a recap of Saatchi’s latest antics and the ongoing mess of his split with TV chef Nigella Lawson, check out last Wednesday’s post. In the meantime, the civil fraud suit against the couple’s assistants, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, has continued unabated. Last time we heard, the sisters accused Nigella of using cocaine daily for over a decade while granting them unlimited access to Saatchi’s credit cards in exchange for their silence on the matter. I agree with many of you about how this defense doesn’t make much sense. If Nigella had something to hide, why didn’t she use her own credit cards to keep the sisters quiet? Nigella has millions in the bank, and she could afford such a tactic.
At the moment, the Grillo sisters’ case has been adjourned until Wednesday when Nigella is expected to take the stand. That should be fun. Here’s a photo of the Grillo sisters entering court if you’re curious:
A number of stories are circulating about the court proceedings from the past few days. Let’s do bullet points to get ourselves up to speed:
* New reports say that Nigella had already informally separated from Saatchi one year before the choking incident. Nigella allegedly relocated into one of the couple’s other houses with one of the Grillo sisters and only officially moved out of the family home after she lunched at Scott’s in Mayfair with Saatchi (for the last time). This tale seems suspicious since Nigella wore her wedding ring until after the choking incident when she felt public pressure to leave Saatchi.
* The Grillo sisters not only loved luxury goods but reportedly blew £1 million per year on Saatchi’s credit cards. Their lawyer says they were given the option of living rent-free while paying back their “ill-gotten gains.” The sisters refused to do so because “they felt it tied them to the company for the rest of their lives.”
* The sisters maintain that they were only (in regard to Saatchi’s credit cards) acting like any other celebrity assistants but were “treated worse than Filipino slaves.” Their attorney stated “they believed that they were authorised to incur this personal expenditure, and suddenly [Saatchi was] saying they were not.”
* Saatchi is so lonely and sad about everything. He took the stand and described himself as “utterly heartbroken” over the divorce and stated, “I wish this last year had never happened. If you think I am taking any pleasure from this situation then you are greatly mistaken.” He also regrets describing his ex-wife as “Higella” in recently released emails. Right.
* Saatchi admits he doesn’t really know whether or not Nigella was snorting cocaine, but he is very upset that his douchey emails were leaked to the public. He still “absolutely adores” Nigella and is “broken-hearted to have lost her.” Saatchi also claims he never choked Nigella but was only “holding her head, by the neck, to get her to focus.” Were they speaking of Nigella’s alleged drug abuse while choked her? Saatchi admits, “No,” but “I’m very against drugs.” As to the Grillo sisters’ alleged misdeeds, Saatchi described the duo as “naughty girls.”
* Saatchi’s new girlfriend, Trinny Woodall, is still showing questionable judgment. Trinny was photographed, um, hugging Saatchi’s crotch in the back of a taxicab on Saturday. I wonder what Trinny thinks of Saatchi’s “heartbroken” declaration.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Too bad so sad Strangler Saatchi.
( plays the worlds tiniest violin )
Really. When you’re through playing it, please shove it up his nose. What a jackass.
My sentiments exactly!
Lets have Bourdain weigh in as to whether he thinks she had a coke problem.
He needs a whambulance.
“Holding her head by the neck?” Dude. You would think that as he said those words aloud that a red flag would have gone up inside his head and perhaps he would have thought, “Wow. I sound like an ass.” No? No red flags for him? I guess when you’re already a “hold her head by her neck” kinda guy, the self-awareness red flags are long gone.
All these people are way too old to be acting like this.
What am I saying? That’s unfair to young people, the vast majority of whom show much better sense.
What a mess.
After reading reports about this guy and also seeing this latest pic. What on earth attracted Nigella to this man?
money
She has tons of her own money and comes from a very wealthy family. No, Saatchi got her at a very sensitive time – her first husband had died of cancer, he’d been a close family friend and took advantage of her grief. I’m sure he can be utterly charming and persuasive when he wants to, or when he wants something, in this case it was the lovely Nigella.
She was devastated at losing her husband John Diamond. I doubt that she was thinking clearly. Charles Saatchi was a friend of her husband’s, & I would imagine he swooped in at a very vulnerable time for her.
I doubt that she would have hooked up with him under `normal’ circumstances.
Yeah, her husband had a form of cancer everyone expected him to survive, and he died slowly over about three years, with the news worse and worse every time a treatment failed. He was a speech journalist as well as print, a very gregarious man who liked conversation and food, and he lost his tongue and could only be fed via liquid in a tube, and couldn’t talk. She’d lost her mother and younger sister to cancer in the three years (think?) before his diagnosis, too, and they had a baby and a toddler. When he died she moved in with Saatchi inside a few weeks. It would be harder to imagine anyone more vulnerable, I think. And she was considered one of the most beautiful women in the country at the time, as well as being a famous telly chef, so real trophy wife territory for him – smart as well, being Oxford educated, and finally her father used to be the second most senior politician in the country, after only the Prime Minister, so she’s very well connected.
Saatchi moved in on her at a point she probably didn’t know which way was up. She also said once in an interview that John Diamond’s anger at dying and the long time it took meant she had to shield the children from his hurt and rage a lot. I can imagine in that situation she grew used to handling someone on the edge of their temper, though he had valid reasons. And her mother was not kind to her – she’s said her childhood was unhappy. I don’t think she has a good opinion of herself, crazy as that looks to an outsider, with all her gifts and privileges.
Wow, Trinny, I’m impressed with your new boyfriend. Let’s see… Old? Check. Violent? Check. Liar? Check. Still obsessed with former spouse ( the one he choked in public)? Check. Delusional? Check. What else could a girl want? What’s wrong, was Charles Manson busy? There’s still time…
Bwah!
Charlie Manson’s engaged to a 20something. So she had to go to second string Saatchi.
What is with the hugging the of the crutch???
Trinny should know better. Chokers are out this season…
I don’t believe that Saatchi had no idea that the girls were blowing 1 million pounds a year.
This amount was either hidden from him by his accountants and Nigella or he knew. It’s just impossible for a man like Saatchi not to know about that amount of money.
Exactly. He knew.
He does not strike me as the kind of man, that let his wife… the one he choked in public, spend any of his money without knowing exactly how it was spent.
And I am not about to cast any shade on Nigella trying to extract her self from this marriage… by quietly moving to another home a year ago. Without making some PR announcement to the British media.
Just looking at how they are calling her a raging coke head. Simply because that assh*ole Saatchi said she was…
And now he says he didn’t know, after leaking all that crap to the Daily Mail. And short of someone else coming forward to say they did it, you’ll never get me to believe that he wasn’t behind it.
Truly rich people, no matter how despicable and scrooge like they may seem, never have a clue how much they are worth or how they spend it.
As an example, Sting’s accountant fleeced £6M from him which only came to light after someone else noticed anomalies in his bank statements. Sting was none the wiser of the ongoing fraud nor did it affect his lifestyle.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/stings-adviser-jailed-for-pounds-6m-theft-from-star-1578141.html
http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/letter-sting-too-rich-to-notice-1578500.html
As the saying goes, if you know how much money you have, you aren’t rich.
In this case, Saatchi allegedly found out about the theft when a taxi service rang the house to confirm a journey several hours away on his account, but booked by the sisters. He apparently asked his household, including Nigella if there was any special reason for the journey which they all claimed to know nothing about. He asked his office to investigate the journey only to discover the theft. That’s the story he told in court.
Clearly, he wasn’t missing the money.
Seem to remember a few years ago he wrote a book whose main premise was ‘Be as bad as you can’ it sounded like it was based on the philosophy of Ayn Rand (gyroscopically selfish) so nothing he does should be surprising, he has no regard for anyone except himself, will lie anytime it suits him and will wreak a horrible revenge on Nigella if he can – he is an appalling man and she is well out of it…
I remember seeing a documentary on body language. The pose Saatchi’s adopted in the first photo – the hands clasped together demurely in front of oneself – is apparently the standard PR coached “But I’m so innocent!” pose. It’s the same pose Paris Hilton adopted when she walked out of prison in front of paparazzi.
He’s certifiable. Trinny is a PR relationship. All the UK papers deny comments on the character assassination of Nigella. If he thinks this is his finest hour, I’ve got news. I hope support for Nigella reaches her. The guy is a monster.
I think it is. She tweeted a recipe and thanked people for the support.
Jackass
Don’t celebrities require their help to sign non-disclosure agreements? So wouldn’t that cover any (alleged) drug use?
Not sure that flies in a court case. I think it would trump a NDA. Saatchi wouldn’t be bound by it, though.
I know absolutely *nothing* about law in other countries (being from the US), but is there not some sort of ‘marital priviledge’ that would prevent such things from being hashed out in court? Granted that axe swings both ways, & might prevent her from bringing up the very *real* abuse she certainly suffered (but even in the US, if someone’s actions are criminal, can a spouse testify against them?)
Ah, so much legal red tape, I’m completely ignorant of all of it, but what I’ve seen on ‘Law & Order’ (which I know wasn’t *always* truth.)
They’re not married. Divorced a couple of months ago. And while you can claim spousal privilege in this country against testifying (except in cases of domestic or sexual violence, or offences against a child) it’s the choice of the spouse as to whether to use it, not automatic.
Actually the judge lifted the lid to this particular can of worms. He said ‘bad character’ testament could be read out in court whereas the entire matter had been private prior to this. Surprise Surprise, The ‘bad character’ testament is only about Nigella. nothing about Charles.
Thanks bluhare and LAK for the peerage explanation. I can’t believe the crap Camilla had thrown at her, literally and figuratively. No wonder she was shaking at her first official function.
You’re welcome Lady D.
Lady D: You’re welcome.
NDAs don’t shield illegal activity nor do they prevent court testimony.
That pic of Nigella in the striped top? I don’t think cokeheads who snort every day for 10 years look like that.
Good point. Her skin and hair look lustrous and healthy, and she’s normal weight. Does anyone really snort coke every day for 10 years? Every day? Would you still have a nose? I wouldn’t really know, but that seems preposterous to me.
You would think her nose would be gone (thinking of Tara Palmer Tompkinson) snorting regularly for ten years.
I bet Nigella has tons of men lining up. I mean, she’s lovely, got a figure that would send most men into orbit, cooks and has her own money. She’s practically perfect.
And her weight loss is only a year or two old. Before that she was definitely quite zaftig (at least 30 or 40 pounds heavier than she is now), which doesn’t jibe with the “total cokehead for 10 years” claim that these two women (and Saatchi) are throwing around. Pull the other one, kids.
Saatchi is a textbook sociopath/narcissist. He’s tried every gambit to cast himself as the “wronged party” in this mess, but no one is buying. He’s both despicable AND pathetic.
Escape, good names and bluehar for the win!
That really is all the proof I need. She is the picture of health by my standards, and so sexy too.
I actually think the girls are making up the story to save face. I think they actually slept with Saatchi on the regular and therefore thought it was ok to spend his money. If Nigella needed to hide something, she would have used her own money.
I certainly wouldn’t put it passed him. It sounds FAR more realistic than all this ‘coke-head’ nonsense.
I am 100% Team Nigella & have loved her for years. This whole story is like a bizarre nightmare & I doubt we will ever know the truth. First the Grillo sisters sound like the most nasty, thankless, back stabbers ever. Nigella provided them both with a very generous, cushy life for years & this is their payback . A few strange things–
First, Saatchi claims he wanted to let them off but Nigella insisted on calling the police. If true, it would show how betrayed she felt by them.
Second, they were only caught because their monthly purchases total amount started to become colossal. They got away with it for years because the company accountant was not in a position to second guess personal purchases made ostensibly on behalf of Nigella or Saatchi. They were given the cards to buy household items for the family. The accountant was not the monitor $ could not tell if a dress or purse was bought for the Grillos or for N or her daughter.
Third, the Grillos were given a generous offer to work off the debt by reducing their salaries & living rent free but rejected the offer as “being treated like Philippino slaves” and saying jail was better. They clearly felt entitled. The drug claims are payback.
Fourth, rumors have swirled that N used coke, and there is a lot of gossip that the coke is responsible for her dramatic weight loss. Even if she did turn to coke or prescription drugs to self medicate whilst enduring the stress of her marriage, I doubt it was a daily thing for ten years. She would look like utter hell. I would not blame her either.. Plenty of people who have endured less than she have turned to chemicals including alcohol. If true, hope she gets help. He says he did not suspect her, and as he was living with her one would think he would have seen some evidence–he is a smart man in his way.
The Grillo debacle is a big factor driving whatever happened to end the marriage, doubt we will know exactly how. They seem to be trying to do as much damage they can to the family.
Saatchi can’t keep any of his stories straight. What he was doing with her neck. Did he believe she was using drugs. Why he wrote certain emails and made certain statements. He’s covering up something about himself that us worse than we know already. Nigella has been surrounded by piranhas.
me too. And i agree with everything you’ve written.
Thanks LAK and I found your comments upthread about Sting very pertinent & helpful.
Charles Saatchi is a dried up old turd.
Team Nigella all the way, thank-you-very-much.
Hear, hear! Team Nigella!
All one has to do is look at Nigella’s face and body and it would be immediately apparent she hasn’t spent everyday of the last 10 years snorting cocaine
She’s held down a demanding career, raised 2 kids (and helped with Saatchi’s daughter as well) and dealt with a clearly high maintenance spouse while apparently having a raging cocaine habit and not one member of the press has ever caught her at it or had someone try to blow the whistle? Ask the British Royal Family if it’s that easy to hide behaviour you don’t want to get out.
She probably has taken cocaine in her life – most rich upper class British trust fund kids at least try it. However, I’d be more inclined to believe tranquilisers – they used to be called ‘mother’s little helpers’ in the UK and I think dealing with her (second) husband in a drug induced haze might well be easier than sober.
Of course, she might take the stand and fully admit a cocaine habit (since I don’t think she’s stupid enough to lie under oath). If she then goes on to blame her addiction on a bad marriage, what is Saatchi going to say then?
By the way, Nigella was an abused child – her wealthy, socially prominent mother was apparently a nightmare and the abuse only ended with her death. She married a decent man in her first husband, but it looks like she fell back into old patterns when she was overwhelmed by John Diamond’s death. He died slowly and painfully of some sort of mouth or throat cancer and I’m sure it was agonizing for the family.
He’s so narcissistic he doesn’t even realise he condemned himself from his own mouth. He said Nigella told him she left him because she was sick of needing a pass from him on how to live her life, and he indignantly said she could have a night with the girls or go to a party any time she wanted. The notion that she was talking in such trivial terms when telling him how controlling he was with her is revealing – the fact he doesn’t get, even now, that his behaviour is classic for a controlling, abusive man is glaring.
He’s punishing her as hard as he can for leaving. And it’s telling that the Grillos were charged in summer 2012 but apparently only made these allegations in September this year – the same month she filed for divorce from Saatchi. The vicious email he sent was dated from October. He’s using this case to destroy her, as everyone says.