Personal assistants to Nigella Lawson have given evidence at their fraud trial, saying the celebrity chef took cocaine “regularly”.
Elisabetta Grillo told the court she saw regular evidence of drug use in the celebrity chef’s home and found a packet of white powder in her toilet.
Along with her sister Francesca Grillo, Elisabetta is being sued by Nigella’s ex-husband Charles Saatchi for unlawfully using his company credit cards, spending more than $530,000.
She also told the court that Nigella smoked cannabis in front of her children, and hid cocaine in a hollowed-out book in her office.
The court heard there were several signs of Nigella’s drug use, including a packet of white powder found in a toilet, rolled-up banknotes and credit cards with white powder on them at the homes she shared with her late husband John Diamond.
Elisabetta also told the court she found similar evidence in the house Nigella shared with her ex-husband Charles.
“I was cleaning the house and I noticed a little packet on top of the loo, toilet,” she said.
“I opened it because it was kind of a little funny envelope and I saw white powder.”
Nigella, who has already spoken at the trial, strongly denies claims she takes drugs regularly. She told the court she had only taken cocaine at two stages in her life – when her then-husband John Diamond was dying from cancer and in 2010 when her marriage to Charles Saatchi began to fall apart.
But Elisabetta challenged Nigella’s claims, saying she saw drug use about “once every three days” when she worked for her.
Elisabetta told the court she didn’t discuss the topic with Nigella because she didn’t want to cause her any embarrassment.
“At the time I thought it was an embarrassing topic to talk to someone about it, especially when you’re part of the family. I didn’t want to embarrass myself or her,” she said.
Elisabetta also told the court that Nigella would smoke cannabis in front of her children to help her get to sleep.
“They [the children] said Nigella was smoking cannabis with them,” Elisabetta said.
“They would say that was helping Mama.”
She also said the children would take advantage of Nigella being high to ask for presents.
The trial continues.
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