Popular TV chef Nigella Lawson has seldom been out of the papers since June 2013 when pictures emerged of her soon to be ex-husband, millionaire Charles Saatchi, aggressively gripping her throat whilst the pair argued outside a restaurant in Mayfair. Saatchi publicly spun it as a “playful tiff” but the photographs suggested something much more sinister than that. Since then Lawson has found herself at the centre of an intrusive media storm.
Lawson has also been confronted with allegations of cocaine use by her former personal assistants Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo who were under investigation for fraudulently using Saatchi’s credit cards which belonged to his private company. Many newspapers have capitalised on Lawson’s drug use despite her declaration of not being an addict. The story quickly became about drug abuse rather than a woman who had been on the receiving end of domestic abuse.
Saatchi’s unapologetic approach to the incident began when he said that he only accepted the police caution for his unacceptable behaviour to avoid “this hanging over all of us”. This was a surprisingly dismissive and ignorant response from someone who had been accused of domestic violence. Although the fact that photographs have undoubtedly caused an unwanted furore for Lawson and the rest of her family perhaps the publicity has in actual fact done Lawson a favour. Barbara Ellen from The Observer suggests that, “maybe sometimes, people need to be shocked out of their private denial zone, admit to themselves that what they’re experiencing is abuse”. Often victims of domestic abuse suffer in silence as they are often subjected to manipulative abuse at the hands of their partners which often lead to victims not wanting to speak out. Lawson’s situation has shone a light on this problem which is often regarded as one of society’s taboos.
After the publication of the photographs domestic abuse charities were able to start well publicised conversation about the issue. Sandra Horley CBE, chief executive of national domestic violence charity Refuge said “If anything positive is to come of this incident, it is that there has been a massive public response which has generated a nationwide discussion about domestic violence”. She further stated that, “Over a million women experienced domestic violence last year. Two women a week in England and Wales are killed by a current or former partner. We need to send out a strong public message that domestic violence is a crime and is unacceptable”.
Lawson has remained relatively quiet throughout the court cases and the photographs of her being strangled by Saatchi being printed for public consumption. However she recently broke this silence on Good Morning America whilst promoting her new American TV show ‘The Taste’, where she described having the “distortions” of her private life put on display as “mortifying”.
However despite some of the attempts to spin the story into Lawson’s alleged drug habit, Lawson’s career looks to remain as strong as ever. There is little evidence that her career will take a turn as there has been an outpouring of support and sympathy for her situation. The story needs to move on to the issue of domestic violence and give a greater voice to those who have suffered in similar and worse ways as Lawson experienced in June.
Edited by Sheetal Mistry