Showbiz Gossip: Nigella

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Tuesday, 28 January 2014

No action over Nigella cocaine use, say police

Nigella Lawson will not be prosecuted over admissions she made in the trial of her former aides that she twice used cocaine, for fear other witnesses may not want to give evidence in future because they could be too scared of telling the truth

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Sunday, 12 January 2014

Nigella Lawson allegedly took drugs every day for a decade, court told

Nigella Lawson, 53, used cocaine, cannabis and prescription pills “daily” but kept it secret from ex-husband Charles Saatchi, a court hears

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Nigella Lawson told 'you trashed your daughter's life' by ex-husband Charles Saatchi, court hears

Nigella Lawson is a “habitual” cocaine user who “trashed” her daughter’s life by allowing her to take drugs, a court hears

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Friday, 6 December 2013

Nigella Lawson: I only had dinner parties every two years

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

12:31PM GMT 05 Dec 2013

He may have been married to a Domestic Goddess, but Charles Saatchi hardly ever allowed Nigella Lawson to throw dinner parties, a court has heard.

Miss Lawson told a jury she only held dinner parties once every two years, because: "Mr Saatchi likes to take people out to Scott's restaurant."

Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

Details of life in the Saatchi-Lawson household were given to the jury in the trial of two former aides to the TV cook who deny fraudulently spending £685,000 on company credit cards.

Karin Arden, defending Francesca Grillo, a housekeeper, suggested that her client was allowed to buy herself treats using the credit card as a reward for working long hours, which including clearing up after dinner parties.

Saatchi is guilty of 'peddling lies', says Nigella Lawson

05 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson court appearance live updates

04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

05 Dec 2013

Miss Lawson said: "I would say I had dinner parties once on a two-year basis at Eaton Square (the marital home in west London). I was not happy about that.

"I can hardly remember a dinner party at Eaton Square. Mr Saatchi likes to take people out to Scott's restaurant."

It was following a row at Scott's, when Mr Saatchi was photographed grabbing his wife by the throat, that the couple split up and later divorced.

Miss Lawson told the jury that Mr Saatchi was very particular about the way his house was kept, objecting strongly to the suggestion that being in charge of housekeeping was "the job of a woman".

She said: "It was Mr Saatchi's job and my job. He would go round and point at marks he wanted removed. He is a person with a tremendous eye for detail."

Mr Saatchi was also particular about his food. While the weekly shopping would be ordered from Waitrose and delivered by Ocado, Miss Grillo was "very involved in the purchasing of Mr Saatchi's eggs" and would also be sent out for his Frappucino coffees.

She said Francesca and her sister and co-defendant Elisabetta would, like other aides, order food for the house.

"We would have the Ocado order up and people would shout out 'we need this, we need that'. I would say (to the Grillos) 'do you want ravioli as a treat' in the same way that I would buy the others something."

Miss Lawson also liked to treat her staff to days out and gifts, including an outing to Brussels with all of her aides to shop in a Christmas market.

Asked about her aides' other duties, she said: "I'm afraid to say I make them appear on my television programmes. When I'm testing a recipe they write it down."

They did not, however, look after her Twitter account. "I do my own Twitter account," she said.

She also said she was "quite happy to do the washing up" but Mr Saatchi "didn't want me washing up" so he would phone Miss Grillo and ask her to do it.

The Grillo sisters were treated "like family" and took Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi's children from their previous marriages on up to five foreign holidays per year, to locations including New York, San Tropez and Italy.

Miss Arden suggested Miss Lawson had a "penchant for all things Italian" and she replied: "I do, and I don't see how that could ever be interpreted by anyone as a criticism."

She admitted to phoning Miss Grillo when the aide was on holiday in Spain to ask her if she knew where the TV remote control was.

"That would have made Mr Saatchi incredibly irritable," she said. "I have made a lot of similar phone calls over the years."

The court also heard that the couple had a 12ft x 12ft "silver room" full of tea and coffee services and candlesticks.

Miss Lawson said she was "very glad to see that back of it" when the couple moved, and asked if she ever cleaned it said: "I like cleaning silver and I like cleaning shoes. It's a wonderful task, I find it very therapeutic."

Asked if Miss Grillo was allowed to withdraw up to £800 per month cash on the credit card to pay a specialist silver cleaning firm, she said: "Francesca had a great job as a cleaner who could employ other cleaners," but doubted that the couple spent up to £9,600 per year hiring people to do something that "a bit of Duraglit" would sort out.

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Nigella Lawson tells court: 'I would never make my children orphans through drug addiction'

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

4:30PM GMT 05 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson has told a court she would never risk making her children "orphans" by becoming addicted to cocaine or other drugs.

She also denied she kept a stash of cocaine in a box with her late husband's wedding ring as she ended two days of evidence in the fraud trial of two former aides.

Miss Lawson told a jury her ex-husband Charles Saatchi knew she had taken cocaine with her first husband John Diamond during his battle with terminal cancer, and she had never promised him that she would not take drugs again.

On an afternoon when defence barristers repeatedly clashed with Miss Lawson as well as the judge in the case, Miss Lawson was told not to answer whether her children had given her a Mother's Day card with a cannabis "spliff" taped to the front.

Miss Lawson became increasingly emotional and told defence barrister Karin Arden: "If you want to put me on trial, put me on trial, but I cannot think that it's right to have me here as a witness for the Crown and treat me like this."

Nigella: 'I'd never make my children orphans through addiction'

05 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson: I only had dinner parties every two years

05 Dec 2013

Saatchi is guilty of 'peddling lies', says Nigella Lawson

05 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

05 Dec 2013

Miss Arden suggested to Miss Lawson that her drug use was a "dark, guilty secret" in her marriage.

She replied: "In respect of the cocaine use when my first husband died, Mr Saatchi knew about it." Asked if she made him a promise that "that was the end of it", she replied: "No, I did not make a promise. Mr Saatchi has phoned up newspapers saying a promise had been extracted and broken, it's not true."

The court heard that Miss Lawson had a jewellery box in the shape of a hollowed out book, in which she kept jewellery inherited from her grandmothers and mother and E wedding rings worn by her and Mr Diamond.

Miss Arden said she also kept cocaine in the box, which had at one point been found by her daughter. She said: "I did not."

She also denied that she frequently had a "runny nose" or whites powder around her nose, and that cannabis dealers turned up at her house to sell her drugs.

She said: "I promise you if I took the drugs to the extent you say I would not be standing here today.

"You know as well as I do that regular cocaine users don't look like this, they're scrawny. If you think I'm going to sabotage my health and run the risk of leaving my children orphans you are very wrong."

Miss Arden asked: "Do you agree that you received a Mother's Day card in 2011 or 2012 with a spliff taped to the card saying 'To enjoy later'?"

Judge Robin Johnson stepped in and told Miss Arden: "That ends your cross-examination. I'm not having any more. You have exhausted my patience."

He told Miss Lawson not to answer the question.

Earlier, Miss Lawson rejected the suggestion that she allowed a former aide to "spend, spend, spend" on a company credit card when she and Charles Saatchi sold their home for £25 million.

Francesca Grillo is accused of fraudulently spending £580,000 on the credit card, which Miss Lawson described as "disgusting, greedy".

She said it was "totally implausible" that she would allow Miss Grillo to spend as much on clothes for a "treat" in one transaction as some people spend on a car.

Karin Arden, defending Miss Grillo, who denies fraud, suggested to Miss Lawson that she loosened the family purse strings when she and Mr Saatchi put their home in Eaton Square, west London, on the market for £37m.

Miss Arden suggested that Miss Lawson had allowed Miss Grillo to spend £5,205 on a jacket and dresses in Miu Miu as a reward for all her hard work keeping the house clean for prospective buyers to see it.

"You told her to buy them on the credit card because she deserved it," Miss Arden suggested.

"Five thousand pounds?! Why on earth would I do that?" Miss Lawson replied. "There are cars that cost that much money."

Miss Arden said: "You were trying to sell the house for £37m, it was giddy money and you told her to treat herself."

Miss Lawson, who said she had not personally profited from the eventual £25m sale of Mr Saatchi's house, rejected this.

Miss Lawson has now finished giving evidence, having spent almost two full days in the witness box.

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Nigella Lawson gives evidence: live updates

Follow Nigella Lawson's second day giving evidence in the fraud trial of her former aides, who are accused of abusing cards loaned to them by Miss Lawson and Charles Saatchi

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Nigella Lawson: 'I would never risk orphaning my children with drugs'

Witness: Nigella Lawson leaves Isleworth Crown Court after her second and final day of giving evidence at the trial of her former aides Photo: GETTY IMAGES

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Wednesday, 4 December 2013

Nigella Lawson court appearance live updates

Follow the trial of Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi's former aides, who are accused of fraud as the celebrity chef gives evidence By Gordon Rayner, Claire Carter and Theo Merz

12:50PM GMT 04 Dec 2013

900002013-12-04 15:45:43.0http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10493550/Nigella-appears-in-court-live.html?service

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Nigella Lawson arrives at court

Nigella Lawson arrives at Isleworth Crown Court in London, where she is due to give evidence in the fraud trial of her two former personal assistants 10:50AM GMT 04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson arrived at court today as she prepares to give evidence in the trial of two of her former personal assistants.

The TV cook is a prosecution witness in the trial of Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo.

The pair are accused of abusing their positions by using credit cards loaned to them by Ms Lawson and her former husband Charles Saatchi to spend more than £685,000 on themselves.

Ms Lawson, 53, wearing a long dark coat, was greeted by dozens of photographers and television crews waiting outside Isleworth Crown Court in west London as she arrived this morning.

Prosecutors in the trial claim the Grillo sisters lived the "high life", spending the money on designer clothes and handbags from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood.

Nigella Lawson: Saatchi tried to 'destroy' me

04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson's immaculate courtroom beauty battle

04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson court appearance live updates

04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson: wit and warmth that mask her private torment

01 Dec 2013

'I held her by neck to make her focus'

30 Nov 2013

Nigella: death of dream for Domestic Goddess?

29 Nov 2013

Elisabetta, 41, sometimes referred to in court as Lisa, and co-defendant Francesca, 35, both of Kensington Gardens Square, Bayswater, west London, deny committing fraud, which is said to have taken place between January 2008 and last December.

Questioned about the drug-taking allegations, Mr Saatchi told the court: "It was hearsay. I personally have absolutely no knowledge that Nigella has ever taken a drug ever.

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Nigella Lawson: Saatchi tried to 'destroy' me

Nigella Lawson accuses ex-husband Charles Saatchi of using the trial of two former aides to "destroy" her with bogus allegations that she took cocaine

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Nigella Lawson: Charles Saatchi had a 'temper' and would 'shout and swear'

By Gordon Rayner, Chief Reporter

1:44PM GMT 04 Dec 2013

Nigella Lawson confided in an aide that Charles Saatchi had a "temper" and that she had contemplated leaving him some time before they finally separated, a court has heard.

Miss Lawson told Elisabetta Grillo that "I don't know how long I can take this" because Mr Saatchi would "shout and swear" at her.

A court sketch showing TV cook Nigella Lawson giving evidence at Isleworth Crown Court (PA)

Details of the couple's marriage were set out before a jury in the case of Miss Grillo and her sister Francesca, who together face charges that they defrauded Mr Saatchi out of £685,000 spent on his credit cards.

Giving evidence for the prosecution at Isleworth Crown Court, Miss Lawson was asked by Anthony Metzer QC, defending Elisabetta Grillo, if she had told his client about the problems in her marriage and if she "contemplated leaving him".

Nigella Lawson court appearance live updates

04 Dec 2013

Nigella: death of dream for Domestic Goddess?

29 Nov 2013

She said: "I would say 'I don't know how long I can take this' but I never made plans to leave him. He did lose his temper sometimes."

Charles Saatchi arrives at Isleworth Crown Court (Getty Images)

Asked if Mr Saatchi used to "shout and swear" at her, she said he did, and Miss Grillo may well have heard their rows.

Mr Metzer asked if her background "conflicted" with Mr Saatchi's as her lifestyle was more bohemian.

She replied: "I don't understand why my marriage is pertinent to you."

Mr Metzer also referred to the couple's "unfortunate" divorce in July, to which she retorted: "I wouldn't say unfortunately."

Miss Lawson confirmed that she spent time with Mr Saatchi before the death of her late husband John Diamond, but said it was with Mr Diamond's blessing and on one occasion they all went on holiday together.

Elisabetta (L) and Francesca Grillo arrive at Isleworth Crown Court (Reuters)

She said Mr Saatchi liked the Grillo sisters to take their holidays separately so that one of them would always be "on duty", though they would sometimes return to their native Italy together at Christmas.

She said: "I think it didn't altogether please Mr Saatchi but I did try to explain to him that it was Christmas."

Mr Metzer referred to her children by their first names, but she said: "Do my children have to be referred to by name? Can they just be referred to as my son and daughter?" Mr Metzer agreed.

Miss Lawson also objected strongly to a suggestion from Mr Metzer that Elisabetta Grillo had acted as a "surrogate mother" to her children when Mr Diamond was dying.

She said: "My children were hurt to the quick when they saw that (written on an internet blog alongside allegations that she took cocaine). They don't need a surrogate mother.

"It's meant to aggrandise your client and suggest that I was not there to raise my children."

She added that her children felt "abandoned and betrayed" by the defendants because they "never once got in touch" after their arrest.

The court heard that Elisabetta Grillo lived in the marital home and had a bigger bedroom even than Miss Lawson and Mr Saatchi.

Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson (REX)

She was also paid to clean the flat of Miss Lawson's father, the former chancellor Lord Lawson, and brought his sheets back to be washed because he did not have a washing machine. Miss Grillo was allowed to take taxis to his flat because she had to take a vacuum cleaner with her, as he did not have one of those either.

Mr Metzer suggested that the Grillo sisters had to buy themselves expensive clothes because they met many celebrity friends of Miss Lawson and had to look presentable.

Miss Lawson suggested Mr Metzer was "obsessed" with celebrities and added: "I'm afraid to say I very often don't look presentable. She is Italian, she looked a lot more presentable than I did."

Miss Lawson was asked about her team of personal assistants, known as "team Nigella", and said: "No, they refer to themselves as team cupcake."

She confirmed that the aides were often given lavish gifts as a reward for their hard work and loyalty. Elisabetta Grillo was given gifts including a Hermes watch and a Diamond necklace from Tiffany's, while another aide put her £12,500 wedding reception at the Saatchi Gallery on Mr Saatchi's credit card after being told the couple would foot the bill.

But aides, and even Miss Lawson herself, were never allowed to withdraw cash on the credit cards because "Charles kept a huge stash it above the fridge".

Miss Lawson said: "He put it in a lunch zippy freezer bag above the fridge. I think he did like a huge wad of cash because he didn't like to use credit cards himself."

Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo deny fraud. The trial continues.

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