Celebrity chef and ABC’s “The Taste” judge Nigella Lawson’s ex-husband, millionaire Charles Saatchi, said he believes his wife did do drugs as alleged, though he has no evidence that she had during their 10-year-marriage.
Saatchi made the statements while testifying in the London trial of two of Lawson’s ex-assistants who are accused of fraud, according to CNN.
The allegations of drug use were released by British judge, Robin Johnson, earlier this week. The were made by Italian sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo, who are accused of defrauding Lawson and her husband to the tune of nearly $500,000. There had previously been a gag order imposed over the evidence, but Johnson lifted the order, ruling that the evidence could be used by the defendants.
Also read: Nigella Lawson Used Drugs Daily for More Than a Decade, Former Assistants Allege (Report)
The statements by Saatchi follow an email in which he wrote that he “believed” the assistants would “get off,” because Lawson was doing drugs and allowed them to spend whatever they liked. He said the argument “sounded pretty compelling to me.”
The Grillos contend that they were allowed use of corporate credit cards in exchange for staying mum about Lawson’s alleged “guilty secret.”
Saatchi was shown a list of charges made by the sisters for hundreds of thousands of dollars and said that he didn’t authorize the purchases and couldn’t say whether Lawson approved them. He did say the sisters were authorized to make payments for the home.
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The prosecution said the former assistants frequently bought things for themselves, including purchases from designer labels Prada, Miu Miu, Louis Vuitton and Chloe, and hotel bills and plane tickets.
In June, the couple were photographed in a restaurant having an argument. In the photos, Saatchi is seen with his hand around Lawson’s throat. The couple announced their divorce soon afterward.