A distressed Nigella Lawson has reportedly fled her marital home with suitcase in hand hours after pictures of the chef apparently being grabbed by the throat by her husband surfaced in a UK tabloid.
The 53-year-old mother of two was spotted looking very anxious waiting for a taxi with her teenage son, the Daily Mail reports.
She left the London home after images of her billionaire husband Charles Saatchi apparently choking her at a restaurant were published in Britain’s Sunday People.
The incident is believed not to be an isolated attack, as the pair have been photographed arguing before, with neighbours of the couple telling the magazine of their “volatile” relationship.
A Scotland Yard spokesperson has said Ms Lawson had not lodged a complaint but declined to confirm whether someone else had done so.
Police are investigating the incident which was described in the magazine as “utterly shocking”.
“I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes. Nigella was very, very upset,” an onlooker told Sunday People.
“She had a real look of fear on her face. And yet she kissed him. She appeared to be a woman who loves him but was clearly unable to stop him being abusive, frightening and disrespectful to her.”
Neighbours of the couple have reportedly described previous public arguments between the couple.
“They’re both characters and if they did this I’m sure they made up straight away as I’ve seen them together looking happy recently,” a neighbour said.
The incident was allegedly witnessed by bystanders — not one of whom intervened.
The celebrity chef was said to be quivering as her 70-year-old husband first used his left, then both hands as he grasped at her neck four times.
Witnesses say she appeared calm and tried to calm her husband down, at one point making the bizarre move to lean over and kiss her husband on the cheek.
One witness added that Saatchi “looked guilty”.
“It was clear he knew he’d done something wrong. He was menacing, there’s no question. She had been abused and humiliated in public.”
This horrific incident is the latest in a string of tragedies to befall the successful TV chef.
The self-trained cook enjoyed a happy childhood raised by her father Nigel, a senior cabinet minister in Margaret Thatcher’s government, and her mother Vanessa, a socialite and heiress to a successful restaurant chain.
But her mother died of liver cancer in her 40s, and Nigella also lost her sister, Thomasina, to breast cancer in her 30s.
Cancer also claimed the life of her first husband, journalist John Diamond, who died of throat cancer in 2001. The couple had two sons together now 17 and 19.
Nigella remarried in 2003 after finding love with Charles Saatchi, co-founder of global advertising firm Saatchi & Saatchi. The media-shy billionaire has been married three times and divorced twice.
The incident has prompted a wide spread discussion about domestic violence.
An Australian radio presenter triggered outrage with a blog post calling on Australian women to boycott the British TV chef until she “makes a stand on domestic violence”.
“If you want us to buy your books and watch your shows on how to run our kitchens, then we need you to make a stand on domestic violence,” she wrote.
After copping “a torrent of abuse”, the 3AW presented who calls herself “The Queen of Melbourne Radio” issued a statement clarifying her comments.
“First and foremost, my wish is for Nigella Lawson is that she is safe and well, and as far away from her beastly husband as possible,” she said, adding she was “mortified that anyone would think I was bullying or victimising Nigella Lawson, a woman I admire enormously.”
