Celebrity chef and author Nigella Lawson made headlines when she was photographed being choked by her art collector/advertising executive husband Charles Saatchi at a London restaurant back in June. The couple later split and officially divorced in July, but now a fraud case involving two of Nigella Lawson’s assistants may be shedding new light on just what happened with their relationship and what the infamous choking incident may have been about!
Sisters Francesca Grillo and Elisabetta Grillo had been Nigella’s assistants for more than ten years, but are currently facing fraud charges after allegedly using Charles Saatchi’s credit cards to rack up more than $400,000 worth of expenses that included vacations, designer handbags and more. The Grillo sisters are now claiming that their use of Saatchi’s credit card was approved by Nigella Lawson in exchange for their silence on her rampant drug use.
The Grillo sisters wanted to introduce the deal they had with Nigella in court as part of their defense. “In a nutshell we submit that [Nigella] had a guilty secret from her husband, her then husband,” Elisabetta Grillo’s representative, Anthony Metzer QC, explained in court. “She did not want him to know of her use of cocaine and that is highly relevant to the defense case.”
“The defendants will maintain that they were fully aware of her illicit drug use and she essentially would consent to their expenditure on the understanding that there would be no disclosure to her husband of her usage.”
Metzer later stated that the agreement was not “verbalized” and added “There would be an understanding between them that she would be fairly liberal in relation to their substantial expenditure, largely for themselves in addition to expenditure on behalf of the children, in return for a tacit understanding.”
^ Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi together in 2008
Metzer later expounded, claiming that Nigella Lawson authorized the spending “in return for the tacit understanding that it would remain behind closed doors as to how she was incurring a substantial amount of personal expenditure on drug use.” He then pointed out, “It was not her expenditure that was the concern, it was what she was spending it on.”
“The tacit understanding was that they would not shop her to her husband or the authorities.”
As to why Nigella Lawson was denying the Grillo sisters’ claims, Metzer explains, “When their expenditure came to light, Miss Lawson was backed into a corner and had to say that she didn’t consent to the expenditure because she was concerned that if she otherwise indicated that ‘I knew perfectly well and was perfectly happy’, that would lead inexorably to the disclosure to her husband and the authorities about her drug use.”
Also introduced in court was an email from Charles Saatchi to Nigella Lawson in which he wrote, “Now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you were off your head on drugs and you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked, and yes, I believe every word the Grillos said.”
OUCH!
^ Nigella Lawson’s ex-husband Charles Saatchi in August, 2013
The judge, who had previously denied Nigella’s alleged drug use to be introduced in the case, changed his mind after hearing the new evidence. “I will allow questions to be asked of Miss Lawson and other witnesses as to the alleged use of drugs and prescribed drugs,” he stated. The judge also lifted the contempt of court order that had previously prevented reporting the allegations to the media.
Due to the introduction of the new evidence the trial date has been postponed with no new date set.
