[Ammi]

Her eyes are transfixed as she struggles to prise away the powerful hand squeezing around her throat.

Glamorous TV cook Nigella Lawson looks stunned to be *attacked by her art collector husband Charles Saatchi during a vicious row at their *favourite London restaurant.

Fellow diners and passers-by at Scott’s in Mayfair were shocked to see the *advertising *multimillionaire reduce his celebrity wife to tears.

Saatchi launched a tirade of angry words. Four times he grasped her around the neck with Nigella, 53, looking powerless and petrified.

At first he used only his left hand, then both. At one stage he tweaked her nose then pushed both hands in her face. Twice Nigella jerked her head backwards as if in fear.

Several times she nodded *intently while the conversation became more and more heated.

By the end of the meal she was clearly distraught and in tears.

Now there are fears of severe problems in their 10-year marriage – his third and her second.

Nigella has been abroad *frequently promoting her latest book and TV series while Saatchi, 70, has become *ever more reclusive and tetchy

The bust-up came after the *couple had just finished eating at the *specialist seafood restaurant, a *popular haunt for *celebrities *including Pippa Middleton, Jeremy Clarkson and Simon Cowell.

Nigella and Saatchi always ask for the same table, which is outside *because he likes to smoke.

It is partly sheltered by olive trees and box bushes. But the attack could be clearly seen and heard by other customers and those passing by the restaurant in the busy street.

Nobody intervened although the incident looked brutal.

A couple on the adjacent table, who briefly chatted with Nigella earlier, turned round and gasped in alarm as they saw her in distress.

She dabbed her eyes on a linen napkin as Saatchi tapped his *cigarettes impatiently on the table.

Nigella then downed her glass of red wine in one gulp and began to talk, her voice trembling.

She seemed to be trying to pacify her husband, placing a hand on his left wrist as it lay on the table.

At that moment she leaned over and kissed his right cheek.

“It was utterly shocking to watch,” said one onlooker. “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. She had a real look of fear on her face. No man should do that to a woman. She raised her voice and got angry but at the same time was trying to calm him down, almost like you would try to calm down a child.

"The kiss was a strange thing. He was being *intimidating, *threatening.

“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.”

Saatchi, 6ft and 17 stone, marched off, leaving his wife sobbing at the table and *grasping her mobile phone as he got into a car the couple had waiting.

The onlooker said: “He 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.”

As Nigella walked to the car she put a hand to her mouth and bit her lip while wiping away tears.

The *pair returned to the *£12million converted warehouse in Chelsea, central London, where they live with his daughter Phoebe, 19, and her children Cosima, also 19, and Bruno, 17 – all from *previous marriages.

Earlier Nigella *tweeted a *picture of her *breakfast – scrambled egg and smoked salmon – without a hint of any trouble at home.

The couple, due to celebrate their 10th *anniversary in September, went out for lunch last Sunday with Saatchi in his trademark black suit and crisp white shirt.

Nigella wore a black jacket with matching tight leggings and a top with red dots. Earlier this year her *voluptuous look and sensuous style made her a hit in Hollywood – as a judge on foodie talent show Taste.

Saatchi, who describes himself as a control freak and at times “cringingly vain” has also said his wife’s cookery is wasted on him and he *prefers *nursery food such as eggs and beans on toast.

Nigella once said of him: “Charles doesn’t really like proper food. He prefers a bowl of cereal.”

One acquaintance who had a *conversation with Nigella recently said: “For Saatchi, Nigella has eclipsed him and he’s grumpier.

“His ultimate act of rebellion has been to reject her food. I have a *feeling that drinking and smoking come into this as well. Her first *husband John Diamond died of throat cancer in 2001. Yet Saatchi smokes.

“She’d never say anything about it though. She wouldn’t like to do *anything to upset him.

“Nigella is in awe of him and *surprisingly lacking in confidence herself. She has been thrilled by the *reaction she has been getting in America after appearing on TV.

“And with the popularity in Britain it’s boosted her self-esteem.”

A spokesman for Scott’s said last night: “We do not comment on the private matters of customers.”

Neither Nigella nor Saatchi *responded to requests for a comment when *asked by the Sunday People


http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news...lNJUY.facebook



..I've put a link to the pictures which are quite upsetting, she looks terrified...if it's true then it kind of blows away any assumptions that it's weaker more vulnerable females who are abused...we just don't know what goes on in people's private lives...

[Shaun]

what a pig. In public, too... wow.

[arista]

She can leave him
and the Massive home

[thesheriff443]

clearly if this happens outside what goes on in private!

[Omah]

Poor Nigella looks unkempt in those shocking pictures - no make-up and greasy hair - did the couple argue before they had even set off for lunch ?

[arista]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

clearly if this happens outside what goes on in private!

2 bedrooms

[Jake.]

That's awful!

[thesheriff443]

Originally Posted by arista

2 bedrooms

I don't think its that civil indoors i'm afraid.

[joeysteele]

Originally Posted by thesheriff443

clearly if this happens outside what goes on in private!

My thoughts too, if he is that unbalanced and cannot control himself he needs help and fast. If he won't get it she should sling him out.
I find this story worrying,I like Nigella and there is no need whatsoever for anyone to have to at any time put up with humiliation and brutality like this.

She is the one who will have to act though from the sounds of it.

[Me. I Am Salman]

This is really weird and shocking :/

[Kizzy]

My initial guess is she's had an affair and that was his reaction, not condoning his behaviour though.
The violence and the placating and the drama and the tears are an eerily familiar scenario for me

[arista]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

My initial guess is she's had an affair and that was his reaction, not condoning his behaviour though.
The violence and the placating and the drama and the tears are an eerily familiar scenario for me

She would be better off with the younger man

[Marc]

poor Nigella!

YOU LEAVE OUR NIGELLA ALONE

[Omah]

Originally Posted by arista

She would be better off with the younger man

Well, I DID make her an offer, but apparently £50k pa is not enough to keep her in the style to which she has become accustomed, so she went for the bank of Saatchi, worth £100m .....

[Kizzy]

She's not exactly skint herself?......

[Cherie]

Originally Posted by Kizzy

She's not exactly skint herself?......

No. So why would she put up with that kind of humiliation. Beggars belief. I'd have kicked him in the goolies after I'd smashed my wine glass over his head.

[Omah]

Nigella Lawson is Mr Saatchi's third marriage - his second wife Kay Saatchi was granted a divorce on the grounds of his unreasonable behaviour and Miss Lawson was named as the ' other woman'.

Miss Lawson revealed that she was physically abused by her mother when she was a child earlier this year.

A violent and depressive woman, Vanessa Salmon – who was married to Conservative politician Nigel Lawson, the former Chancellor – would lash out when her children made too much noise, Miss Lawson said.

Miss Lawson, who was one of four children, told FT Weekend: ‘I never thought I could please her.

‘She was funny but depressed and so sensitive to noise. The sound of a plastic bag being crinkled would send her deranged. She’d shout at all of us and say, “I’m going to hit you till you cry”, and so I never would cry. I still don’t.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2WN8knyKJ

[arista]

[GiRTh]

Nasty piece of work.

[Kizzy]

''Nigella then downed her glass of red wine in one gulp and began to talk, her voice trembling.''
Nigella is drinking white wine?
#missmarple

[Omah]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...estaurant.html

Nigella has previously admitted that she and Saatchi have fiery rows and has described her husband as "an exploder".

She said in 2007: "I'll go quiet when he explodes, and then I am a nest of horrible festeringness."

Just like she was with her mother, seemingly .....

[arista]

"The couple were sitting outside Scott’s in Mayfair,
central London, when he appeared to lean
over and grab her by the throat.
Lawson, 53, looked terrified before leaving
the restaurant alone in floods of tears.
A witness told the
People: “It was utterly shocking to watch. "



I bet its Money trouble

[Omah]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...#ixzz2WQCqnxrU

Nigella Lawson has left her marital home with a suitcase just hours after shocking pictures emerged of the TV chef apparently being choked by her husband millionaire Charles Saatchi during a row in a restaurant.

The 53-year-old mother of two looked anxious as she dashed into a waiting taxi with her teenager son - Mr Saatchi had left the multi-million pound London home 90 minutes before.

She should get a good divorce lawyer first thing tomorrow .....

[Saph]

Poor Nigella I hope she gets away from him

I went to the Saatchi gallery with college last year and it was really boring

[Jords]

oh wow :/

Marriage over.