Nigella Lawson returned yesterday to a London court for her second day of testimony in the fraud case between her ex-husband, Charles Saatchi, and their former assistants, Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo. The sisters have mounted a defense that states they could freely buy whatever they wanted on Saatchi’s credit cards. They say Nigella granted them the privilege so they would keep her “raging drug addiction” secret. Of course most of us see through the sisters’ ruse and recognize that this is probably Saatchi’s way of turning the knife in Nigella’s side. He’s such a sad little man.
On the first day, Nigella was grilled for seven hours and admitted doing cocaine on two occasions. She also copped to smoking pot over the summer to escape the “intimate terrorism” of Saatchi, who has mounted a public campaign to destroy her after she did not defend him for the choking incident.
New developments in yesterday’s court hearing included even more discussion of Saatchi’s claim that he was picking cocaine out of Nigella’s nose, not choking her. There’s also the claim by the Grillo sisters that Nigella often had a runny nose and stashed drugs in the family home. Plus so much more. Here are some of Nigella’s statements made in open court:
Her thoughts on the fraud suit: “I am being put on trial.”
On testifying: “I felt it was my duty to come. I certainly felt it would be an unpleasant experience but that’s not a good enough reason not to do one’s duty. I prefer to keep my private life private, but it was my duty to give evidence. I would rather be honest and ashamed … I wasn’t going to be bullied with lies.”
More on the “choking” incident: “Mr Saatchi was not examining me for cocaine. That’s a story he made up afterwards to clear his name.”
On her sparsedrug use: “I’m not proud of the fact I have taken drugs but that does not make me a drug addict or a habitual drug user. I have never knowingly met a drug dealer or bought cocaine. Do you think a regular cocaine user looks like this? They are scrawny and look unhealthy.”
On Saatchi’s accusations: “My husband is very unfavourably disposed to me and has used his best endeavours and contacts with the press to publish stories that are untrue and would be terribly damaging to publish.”
On the Grillos’ credit card use: “I think any normal person would think that someone else’s credit card could not be used freely for someone else.”
On giving gifts to her assistants: “It’s not enough just to pay them. Everyone in life needs to feel appreciated.”
On Saatchi’s “eye for detail”: “He would go round and point out marks he wanted removed.”
On Saatchi’s remote-control tantrum: “That would have made Mr Saatchi very irritable.”
Her thoughts on money: “I am a lot more puritanical about money than my ex-husband. It’s not okay to splash someone else’s money around in a greedy and disgusting way.”
On claims of a jewelry box of drugs: “No, what I have in that jewellery box was one of my paternal grandmother’s wedding rings, my maternal grandmother’s wedding ring, some jewellery of my mother’s and I have a wedding ring when we got married and a wedding ring John got after he got ill.”
On allegations that Nigella’s daughter found a hollow book full of cocaine: “No, I’ve never heard that.”
Why did she freak over losing the box & book when moving out of the family home? “I was in a state of panic because I thought I had lost my late mother’s and late husband’s jewellery, and my wedding ring. No not drugs.”
She’s not an addict: “In my everyday life I’m reliable, professional and calm, I’m in no sense a drug addict of a habitual nature. I’ve never been incapable of work, I’ve owned up to the drug use. I promise you that if I was smoking cannabis and taking drugs to the extent that you are suggesting I would not be standing here today. There are certainly very high functioning successful people who take cocaine. However, they are not generally reliable. I value my health, my children have only me as a parent, if you think I’m going to sabotage my health and run the risk of leaving my children orphans, you are very wrong.”
[From Daily Mail]
If you’re wondering what the “remote-control tantrum” refers to, Saatchi was revealed by the Grillo sisters to have called them (while they were in Spain) because he couldn’t find the remote. As if he couldn’t get up and change the channel himself or buy a new remote? He also reportedly made a habit of pointing out marks on the walls, which I guess would be reasonable if the Grillos were supposed to clean the house (they were not). He sounds like a terrible nightmare no matter how you paint him. Poor Nigella.
Photos courtesy of WENN
“I am being put on trial”
Yup, that’s exactly what’s going on here.
Indeed. This is an abuse of the court system, truly.
Nigella is conducting herself very well.
+1. It’s all about revenge….what a travesty.
She is a very dignified lady…
My brain must be broken because I cant see the relevance of most of these questions. With lack Saatchis plot backfires and Nigella rides the sympathy into a lucrative career in America.
I would love to see Nigella sue Saatchi for perjury, since she cannot sue him for defamation of his ‘privileged’ testimony. Rat Dick.
^ THIS ^. The man has proven himself to be a nasty, manipulative abuser far more than those pictures could ever show.
Rat Dick is my new favourite insult to men like him. Rat Dick. GENIUS.
This whole alleged trial is disgusting. Nigella is being victimized all over again. I puke on the legal system.
I hope that, by the end of this, Nigella has completely regained her sense of dignity and has left Saatchi absolutely reeling. If there is anyone in the world left that doesn’t think he’s an absolute delusional psycho abuser, by the end of this trial, there should be not one single person left who does not see him for what he is…including Saatchi himself.
I hope that Nigella’s legal team grinds him to dust.
He’s spent all summer railing about his lost reputation, but this has backfired spectacularly. Now there are *more* details about what a reprehensible man he is.
He lost his reputation all by himself.
TEAM NIGELLA. She is a classy lady. I hope she comes out of this ok.
Agree completely.
The whole trial is disgusting.
Ugh. He sounds like my ex. He turned a simple child custody hearing into me feeling like I was on trial.
minnieder, I’m so glad your ex is in the rear view mirror.
She is being put on trial. It’s disgusting!
This is ridiculous how they are turning a theft case into a trial of Nigella. Keep your head up girl. Team Nigella all the way.
Saatchi is an asshole, and I hate how this trial has turned into putting Nigella on trial as she put it…It’s also obvious by her physical look that she is not a hardcore drug abuser of any kind, in addition to what she says. Poor Nigella. I hope this ends quickly for her sake, and that Saatchi pays for being such a jerk.
I’m wondering why he wasn’t interrogated to this degree while he was giving evidence??
The drugs claims are fairly irrelevant to the case at large, which is that two of their assistants committed fraud. It was brought up by them as an excuse for their actions and her vindictive troll of a husband backed it up.
the whole thing is disgusting
The sisters, with additional supporting emails from saatchi, submitted a ‘bad character’ statement as part of her defence to prove that their actions fell squarely on Nigella’s shoulders.
The judge allowed the ‘bad character’ submission to be entered into evidence and read out in court, which is also why this trial is so publicly sensational. Nigella has to clear her name because entire statement traduces her whilst leaving Saatchi in the clear.
I don’t think the drug claims are irrelevant, just not proven. It sounds like what the sisters are saying is that Nigella was their boss and a drug abuser. She authorized them to use the cards to buy things for her and for themselves. Assistants do this kind of thing for their bosses all the time. It could be their defense will be, that Nigella wanted them to buy things for themselves and for her. Nigella and Charles are very wealthy so the extravagant gift giving wouldn’t be unusual, nor would bribery. Wealthy people can have drug addictions and spend lots of money to cover it up. I’m not saying it’s true but the Grillos’ defense is within the realm of possibility. As is the idea that an celebrity might have been a drug addict and a victim of domestic abuse. And now that she is away from her abuser, she is getting therapy and has kicked her habit.
The Grillo’s didn’t even bring up the drug abuse until very recently. They were accused of the theft I believe about a year ago and were offered a way out to repay without resorting to the court system. They refused. The drug accusations are a legal ruse,
Grilling someone for seven hours is positively inhumane. “I’d rather be honest and ashamed.” What a powerful statement. Once you cop to shame, you’ve essentially decimated the other side’s character assassination case. All her abusers, including the justice system, are on full display, here.
He’s a horrid little man. Go away.
Yes, she made mistakes. The biggest was marrying him and trusting him, and it appears she’s seen that now. Hopefully, she has expunged this horror by her honesty. She can hold her head up and lead her life. Go, Nigella.
I feel so badly for her. Yes, she’s a public figure, but before this I didn’t know much about her personal life beyond that she was widowed when her kids were young and whatever I saw on a Food Network biography about her. How awful for her children to have to see this. I imagine they saw what an assh*le their step father was on a daily basis, but to watch their mother have to defend herself like this has to be awful.
I admire the way she’s taken what has to be a humiliating experience and still kept her dignity.
Team Nigella forever.
Saatchi is an abuser, plain and simple, and now she is free. Too bad we’re discovering this in a trial.
Rooting for Nigella. I think she is fragile. Her terrible mother, horrible abusive childhood, the deaths of her sister, husband, etc. She reminds me of my own mother who was an addict. I don’t think Nigella is a full on addict but I think the culture of abuse has left her damaged and addiction in these cases is not uncommon. Satchi continued the controlling abuse, took advantage of her fragile state and is now waging a smear campaign.
I think Satchi thought having Trinny Woodall as a faux girlfriend while the trial is ongoing would make him look fun loving, and ‘prove’ the issue was all with Nigella. I think it was all calculated. He could have got a 20 something girlfriend. Instead he wanted to get some one the same age as Nigella so he didn’t look skeevey going after a young girl. He thinks his new girl friend proves he is a great guy. He’s running this like an advertising PR campaign. this is why he is doing the pap walk so often with Trinny..going to the places he took Nigella as he know they will be in the news. In the photos of he and Trinny it doesn’t even look like he likes Trinny (from his body language) but he wants to look like a man in a relationship with a vibrant, ‘famous’, mature woman, some one just like Nigella only better. That’s why it had to be a ‘celebrity’. He couldn’t pick a new ‘girlf friend’ from his social circle, he had to pick someone who is known in the UK press. I’m just glad his campaign to harm her (and that’s truly what it is) is starting to backfire.
Though make no mistake, he will keep trying.
Keep your guard up Nigella, and stay strong.
What the hell does all this VICIOUS character assassination have to do with these 2 sister grifter bitches and their thievery?! I can’t believe a competent judge is letting this crap continue.
This!
I think I read that she stood during the questioning. The whole thing is crazy to me.
I think she nailed it when she said she was surprised Saatchi knew how the defense was going to play out aka drug use claims before the lawsuit was published, like something is fixed. She also referred to the younger sister as having an overblown sense of entitlement. My money is on the girl doing the old man, and being in on throwing Nigella under the bus by deflecting over to her the drug charge. They are all extremely condescending towards Nigella and abusing her obviously loving nature. Shame on them.
I have to give her credit, she’s more than holding her own here. And everything he tries to do to tear her down only reflects poorly on him. If he had half a brain he’d just leave her alone and move on.
He is a total cad. Love Nigella.
If Nigella was such a drug addict, why was he begging her to come back to him. He even admitted he never saw her do drugs. This man really has mental issues. I am amazed that her marriage lasted ten years.
I wouldn’t admit to shit and tell them “Show me the receipts!!”
But seriously coke is expensive, if she had a “raging” drug problem there would at least be a money trail going out that wouldn’t be accounted for. It would be super obvious because most addicts spend all their money staying high.
That being said I think he’s drawing straws here. I had this abusive boyfriend once and at the beginning when it was all good (because it goes south pretty quickly) I would confide in him things and had told him of my previous coke use. Cut to us fighting and me trying to leave the relationship, the first thing he does is use this “unfavorable point in my life” against me. He told my mother, people in town, pretty much anyone that would listen that I was habitually using coke and meth in an effort to make me look bad. Although it wasn’t true, that was his way of punishing me. Come to find out, it was he that had the addiction problem. Anyway, abusive people use weak moments in your life to control you and try to break you- a dominant/submissive tactic. You just have to grin and bear it, tell your truth and move on. Good for her for escaping the BS. I am very happy now with someone that puts me on a pedestal and that experience made me wiser so I could see the signs and avoid someone like my ex. (but I will never again disclose my darkest secrets again)
I think the photo of the Grillo sisters speaks volumes. They look thoroughly worn out.
Yeah, the first step to picking coke out of peoples noses is to put your hands around their throats and choke them. I thought everyone knew that?!
Once, I liked Saatchi as the “artholic” I thought he was, now I totally despise him for what he did and he’s doing to this wonderful woman. I think she’s classy and strong, and this kind of bad stories have to be a warning for every woman: Bluebeard is still alive and even independent and strong women can have a moment of weakness and fall into the trap.
For the Grillo sisters to spend over $1 million per year on personal luxuries paid for by Saatchi over the 10 year life of this marriage is stealing. They could not possibly expect this level of spend to never be discovered!
I have heard from someone who knows them, that Nigella was in a sexual relationship with the Grillo sisters and that they were her drug supplier. This would explain why Nigella was ready to subsidise them. Also, Saatchi has been in the dark about many of Nigella’s secrets – it will be interesting to see if all the skeletons in her cupboard come out including any of her affairs behind Saatchi’s back.
Yes, Nigella gives a strong appearance in court.
For anyone interested in a new perspective on the cocaine use by Nigella while her first husband was dying, this wonderful article by Victoria Coren Mitchell (writer, presenter, poker goddess) is enlightening. Coren knew the family and was herself enticed to try cocaine by John Diamond – for the full “scandalous” story (nb not remotely scandalous) go here:
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/dec/08/nigella-lawson-john-diamond
Loved the story about John Diamond. it lends perspective on the whole messy issue. makes me root even mote for Nigella.
Thanks!
You’re welcome 🙂
If you read the timeline of the drug accusations they were only brought out by the defense less than 2 months ago, by Saatchi to the defense team. In other words he was sabotaging his own case against the two thieves who stole about 800k from him in order to destroy Nigella’s career. In the two years this crime was being investigated, and negotiated there was no mention of drugs by any party. Only him and that was recently when Nigella refused to go back to him and clear his name from abusing her, which since they were caught on film by a 3rd party would have been impossible. Negotiations broke down when the two women refused to move back into the home with him and work for much less money in order to pay off their debts, they were going to do this until they realized they would be poor and living with him instead of the free apartment in London that was rented for them as part of their pay, both women told their defense lawyers they would rather go to prison that move in with Saatchi rather than live in the home with him without Nigella as a buffer. He wanted them to work through Christmas with no days off for instance.
This entire drug smear was started to punish Nigella, it’s her fault he filed for divorce because she moved out because he told her too because she wouldn’t defend him and tell the press that he didn’t choke her, even though the photos prove he did for nearly 30 minutes, and the reason he was wiping her nose was because he was choking her and she was crying. I think when John Diamond died, after her mother and sister both died, she was crushed and in shock, Saatchi swooped down on a vulnerable women with two small children and gave her a small measure of comfort but as her grief subsided she realized she lived with an emotional and probably physical monster, the last year was really bad for everyone as he wanted her son to be moved out of the home because he took too much attention away from Saatchi, which was what initiated the fight that night at Scott’s. He hated her son and never bonded with him but felt he was competition. Can you imagine trying to placate a man who hated your fatherless child because he had the nerve to look like his father, and was therefore competition for your affection – he was 4 when his father died, how sick is that? I think she might have gone back with Saatchi but when he couldn’t get her to return his phone calls when he wanted her to, he jumped the gun and filed for divorce and lost his most valued possession. Do you know what he says about her now to mutual friends? She’s damaged artwork that needs to be moved out of his warehouse to make room for something else beautiful. As though she’s only an object, not a woman or wife or mother but one of his art pieces. Oddly he’s started dating a woman who is an alcoholic and well know cocaine addict. He loves his wine so she’s already broken right out of the gate. He’s such a horrible man and he also has a history of chocking people, a CEO two years ago in a business meeting the same way he choked Nigella. I do believe there was a private financial settlement with the very fast divorce, I hope she got 20 million out of that horses ass. At least now she is totally free of him forever and no amount of money can buy that kind of freedom. Good for her – and now the world knows just how evil he was to her and her children. His plan to ruin her life and career backfired spectacularly and now he probably won’t get the guilty verdict he might have had he not tried to use a theft / embezzlement case to ruin her life with lies.