Domestic goddess Nigella Lawson has told a court she has taken cocaine before, but said claims that she’s a drug addict are “absolutely ridiculous”.
“I have never been a drug addict. I’ve never been a habitual user,” she said in the Isleworth Crown Court on Wednesday.
“There are two times in my life when I have used cocaine.”
The court heard that the Brit snorted cocaine six times with her late husband John Diamond after he found out he had terminal cancer. She did it once again in July 2010 when she was being “subjected to intimate terrorism by [Charles] Saatchi”, her ex-husband.
“A friend of mine offered me some cocaine. I took it,” she told the court. She went on to say that the experience “spooked” her and she went to see a doctor.
“I concluded that I did not have a drug problem, I had a life problem and I needed to attend to that and I did seek out a therapist,” she added.
Nigella also admitted to smoking cannabis during the final year of her marriage to Saatchi, without his knowledge.
“I found it made an intolerable situation tolerable,” she told the court.
“It’s a false friend and not a good idea. I found the answer was in changing the situation and trying to create a tolerable situation for me and my family,” she said.
“I have to say, since freeing myself from a brilliant but brutal man, I’m now totally cannabis, cocaine, any drug-free.”
The 53-year-old mother of two made the admissions as she gave evidence at the trial of her two former personal assistants, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo.
Nigella testified against the pair, who are being accused of fraud against Charles’s company, Conraco Partnership, for unlawfully using company credit cards to purchase more than $530,000 worth of luxury goods.
Nigella also told the court about the dispute with Saatchi that sparked the infamous choking photos at a London restaurant.
“What actually happened was that somebody walked by with a very cute baby in a stroller and I said, ‘I am so looking forward to having grandchildren,’ and he grabbed me by the throat and said, ‘I am the only person you should be concerned with. I am the only person who should be giving you pleasure,’” she said. “That is what happened.”
Nigella also told the court that her ex-husband launched a “witch-hunt” against her and tried to “ruin her in any way” after the incident. The court heard that Saatchi had a mindset of, “Get her – I don’t care what it takes,” because he felt betrayed by her.
“I think he likes everyone to do what he wants,” she told the court.
In response to claims Saatchi threatened to sue her if she did not give evidence in court, she said it was “just another form of bullying”.
Nigella said throughout their relationship she had not been beaten, but had been left with “emotional scars”, which were “very wounding and very difficult and of course we know how things accelerated”.
The case has been adjourned until tomorrow.
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