Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson was photographed being choked by her husband, multimillionaire art collector Charles Saatchi, after an argument that took place at a London restaurant.
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The couple visited Scott's Restaurant in Mayfair and asked for their usual table, which is outside because Saatchi likes to smoke. Everything looked normal until the husband started raising his voice and saying angry words. The argument got more heated as Saatchi, 70, grabbed Lawson's neck four times.
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At first he used only his left hand, then both. He even tweaked her nose and pushed his hands in her face. "It was utterly shocking to watch," a witness was quoted as saying. "I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes."
After the incident, Nigella, 53 was seen trying to calm her husband down. She downed her glass of red wine and began to talk to him, still shaken over what had happened. She placed a hand on Saatchi's left wrist and then leaned over and kissed his right cheek.
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"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," added the witness.
"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."
Lawson looked really distressed when she left the restaurant trying to hide her tears.
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Some paparazzi wandering the area were able to capture the horrific moment and published the pictures causing a lot of controversy. Saatchi later responded to the allegations: "About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," he said. "There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt."
"We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."
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Asked to comment on reports that Lawson had moved out of the family home, her spokesman said: "I can clarify that she has left the family home with her children." Lawson has made no comment since the pictures emerged.
The restaurant where the argument took place also issued a statement: "The staff and management at Scott's are aware of the reports in the media and would like to make it clear that they did not see the alleged incident nor were they alerted to it at the time."
The couple have been married for 10 years and it is unclear if the celebrity chef will ask for a divorce from her millionaire husband.
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