HouseGoesHollywood: The “real story” behind Nigella’s divorce

In a statement to the Mail on Sunday he said:

I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced.

This is heartbreaking for both of us as our love was very deep, but in the last year we have become estranged and drifted apart.

I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so, and I am ­disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way.

The row photographed at Scott’s restaurant could equally have been Nigella grasping my neck to hold my attention – as indeed she has done in the past, although not in front of Scott’s with a photographer snapping away.

I must stress again my actions were not violent. We are instinctively tactile people. Yes, my hands were around her neck, and they had been touching her arm.

Difficult as it may be to believe, for those who have seen the pictures, there was no pressure applied to her.

In fact it was merely a gesture – one to which a still photograph gives a wholly different and incorrect implication.

Nigella has given a statement to the police to support this view.

I am sorry that we had a row. I am sorry that she was upset. I am even more sorry that this is the end of our marriage.

I wish Nigella only the best for the future, and for her continuing global success.

She remains the most wonderful woman in the world. I feel very fortunate to have had such a lovely wife for many years.

Nigella is about to begin filming a second series of her hit American show The Taste, in Los Angeles.

According to The Mirror, she has invited Saatchi’s daughter Phoebe, 19, to join her and her own ­children Cosima, 19, and Bruno, 17, there but has told her estranged husband to stay away.

“He was not a part of her life there last year and, following the events and the attention his recent actions have caused, she does not want him around this year.

“She has always been close to Phoebe and has made it clear to her show’s crew that her family – including Phoebe – will be with her.

“However, relations ­between herself and Charles are still very strained and it is unlikely that they will be able to reconcile.

“She has ­expressly stated that she does not want Charles to visit her US home.

Nigella – the real story?

The Mail on Sunday has gone to on reveal what it says is the true story behind Nigella’s marriage break-up. And it’s just as disturbing as the pictures we saw of their argument.

“It now seems hard to believe but when Saatchi and Nigella were first told, on Friday June 14, that a newspaper was preparing a story about a fight at a restaurant they genuinely thought nothing of it.

“It was not unusual for them to argue, particularly in recent months, and so they carried on as normal, making plans for their summer ­holiday in Europe despite background tensions in their marriage. It was not until that Sunday morning, when they saw the images of the ‘grappling’ on the front page of a newspaper, that they realised the gravity of their situation.”

The newspaper goes on to say that:

• The real reason the couple were arguing at Scott’s restaurant that night: Nigella believes her daughter, Cosima, 19, should go to Oxford University like her rather than take up a permanent role at The ­Economist. Saatchi disagreed.
• Nigella’s PR machine ordered Saatchi to confess publicly his ‘shame and humiliation’ at assaulting his wife – and Nigella agreed with this plan.
• The couple then had an ­explosive fight in which Saatchi told Nigella: ‘Pack your bags and go.’
• Saatchi believes that ­Nigella’s willingness to take her PR advisor’s advice over his own ­ultimately tore them apart.
• Saatchi feels he has no other option but to file for divorce because she refused to defend him in public and say he never hit her.
• The couple have not spoken a word to each other since Nigella left the family home after the pictures emerged on June 16, and she has refused to answer his ‘begging’ calls and text messages.

Let’s hope there was more to Nigella’s actions than following the advice of her PR team to damage control a situation she “genuinely thought nothing of”.