Skip to main content
Tags: charles saatchi | grabbing | nigella lawson | throat

Charles Saatchi: Grabbing Nigella Lawson's Throat a 'Playful Tiff'

By    |   Tuesday, 18 June 2013 11:33 AM EDT

Charles Saatchi, a prominent British art collector, has accepted a police caution and admitted to grabbing the throat of his celebrity chef wife, Nigella Lawson, in what he called a "playful tiff," The Associated Press reported.

In Tuesday's editions, The London Evening Standard newspaper quoted him as saying that he had approached police to discuss the incident after seeking legal advice.

"Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross [police] station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months," he told the newspaper, where he is also a columnist. He said the questioning took four hours.

Urgent: Is Obama Telling the Truth on IRS, Benghazi Scandals?

Tabloid newspapers this week published photos of the incident, which happened June 9 in a posh London restaurant.

Saatchi, 70, earlier had characterized the incident as a "playful tiff" during an intense debate about the couple's children.

Lawson, 53, is a well-known TV presenter and chef whose cookbooks are bestsellers in Britain and the United States.

Under British law, a caution is a formal warning given to someone who admits the offense. It carries no penalty, but it can be used as evidence of bad character if a person is later prosecuted for a different crime.

Saatchi had told the Evening Standard newspaper Monday that the photos made the altercation look worse than it was.

Saatchi said "the pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place."

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," he was quoted as saying. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff."

Saatchi also told the paper the couple "had made up by the time we were home.

"The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Lawson's spokesman, Mark Hutchinson, confirmed that she and her children had left the family home after the photos were published but declined to comment further.

Saatchi and Lawson married in 2003 and live in London with Lawson's son and daughter from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died of cancer in 2001, and Saatchi's daughter from a previous marriage.

Saatchi, co-founder of the Saatchi & Saatchi ad agency, owns one of London's biggest private art galleries. He was the main patron of the Young British Artists movement of the 1990s, which made household names of artists including Damien Hirst and Tracey Emin.

Lawson gained fame with her 1998 bestseller "How To Eat" and subsequent "How to Be a Domestic Goddess" (2000) and is one of Britain's best-known cookbook writers, as well as the host of foodie TV shows including "Nigella Bites" and ABC's cooking program "The Taste."

A former journalist who attended Oxford University, she served as deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times and subsequently wrote for numerous other newspapers and magazines.

Editor's Note: Get the Navy SEALs Cap – Celebrate Our Heroes

Lawson is also one of the few British food personalities to have had real success in the United States, both on television and with her cookbooks. She has often made the point that she is not a trained chef, but is simply showing people what they can do in their own kitchens.
 
Related stories:

Nigella Lawson Pictured Choked By Husband; Charles Saatchi Investigated

Celebrity Chef Recipes Often Unhealthy: Study

© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.


TheWire
Charles Saatchi, a prominent British art collector, has accepted a police caution and admitted to grabbing the throat of his celebrity chef wife, Nigella Lawson, in what he called a "playful tiff," The Associated Press reported.
charles saatchi,grabbing,nigella lawson,throat
604
2013-33-18
Tuesday, 18 June 2013 11:33 AM
Newsmax Media, Inc.

Sign up for Newsmax’s Daily Newsletter

Receive breaking news and original analysis - sent right to your inbox.

(Optional for Local News)
Privacy: We never share your email address.
Join the Newsmax Community
Read and Post Comments
Please review Community Guidelines before posting a comment.
 
TOP

Interest-Based Advertising | Do not sell or share my personal information

Newsmax, Moneynews, Newsmax Health, and Independent. American. are registered trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc. Newsmax TV, and Newsmax World are trademarks of Newsmax Media, Inc.

NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved
Download the Newsmax App
NEWSMAX.COM
America's News Page
© Newsmax Media, Inc.
All Rights Reserved