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Nigella Lawson Accused Of Cocaine Use And Pill-Popping For Over Ten Years
Photo via Nigella Lawson on Facebook
Nigella Lawson, host of ABC's "The Taste"and several other popular cooking shows in the UK is being accused of using cocaine, cannabis and prescription pills for over 10 years. The accusations come from two former assistants that claim they were bribed to keep her habits a secret from her then-husband, 70-year-old millionaire art collector Charles Saatchi.
Lawson left Saatchi after the paparazzi snapped photos of Saatchi publicly choking Lawson back in June. Saatchi has been insistent that he was not the only one at fault for the tiff. He told the Telegraph he was “determined” that the reason they were arguing would become public.
Saatchi said he was "completely astonished" to hear about her alleged 10 year drug habit in court in London on Tuesday.
Says the Daily Beast:
The allegations emerged ahead of the trial of Francesca and Eisabetta Grillo, Italian sisters who worked as personal assistants for the couple. They are accused of spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on designer clothes and first-class air travel for themselves using a credit card supplied by Saatchi and Lawson, the daughter of former Chancellor of the Exchequer Nigel Lawson ... As part of their defense, the sisters claimed there had been a “tacit understanding” with Lawson that they could spend as much as they liked as long as they kept her alleged drug habit secret from her husband.
The police intercepted an email that Saatchi sent out to Lawson on October 10 saying that, "Of course now the Grillo sisters will get off on the basis that you, [and daughter] Mimi were so off your heads on drugs that you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked,” he wrote. "And yes, I believe every word they have said."
It's not the only heat Lawson has been taking. Her weight loss on the set of "The Taste" had been the cause of much internet speculation, however she debunked those myths saying that it was a bunionectomy that helped her shed the pounds.
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The claims by the Grillo sisters were first heard in High Court on November 15, however the media was initially banned from reporting the details. That decision was overturned on Tuesday.
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