Nigella Lawson has spoken out about the recent trial of her former assistants, admitting it was "mortifying" to have details about her personal life made so very public in court.
In fact, speaking with US TV network ABC, the TV chef admitted she was left "outraged" after she was made to feel as if she were the one on trial.
"My only desire really was to protect my children as much as possible which I wasn’t"
Speaking candidly about the court case, she explained: "It is one of the nicities of the English legal system that you are not allowed counsel if you are a witness.
"Maybe it will change. Maybe that’s good."
Asked what it was like giving evidence in court, she said: "You know, I can’t really remember exactly because you are so focused on answering the questions to the best of your ability that actually you don’t have an enormous awareness of yourself.
"My only desire really was to protect my children as much as possible which I wasn’t, alas... I couldn’t do but that’s what I wanted to do and actually you know since then I have eaten a lot of chocolate, I’ve had a good Christmas and am into the new year."
Nigella added that to have "not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying.
"But, um, there are people going through an awful lot worse and to dwell on any of it would be self-pity and I don’t like to do that."
We love that Nigella won't give in to self-pity. Especially as the allegations about her drug use were made during a trial against the chef's former personal assistants Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, who had been accused of unlawfully spending £685,000 on luxury items on their credit cards.
During the trial the court was read an email by former advertising mogul Charles Saatchi, whose marriage to Nigella had ended after photos of him "throttling" her went viral. The email dubbed the chef ‘Higella’ due to her drug use.
"[To have] not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying"
In her evidence, however, Nigella did not shy away from the allegations, admitting to using cocaine a handful of times when with her late husband John Diamond and once when she was married to Mr Saatchi.
But she denied that had a drug problem and said that she only turned to cocaine when Saatchi began submitting her to "intimate terrorism".
