People were stunned when photos leaked of what appeared to be celebrity chef, Nigella Lawson, being chocked by her husband in public. The images immediately caused an uproar with my many people wondering if Lawson was a victim of domestic violence. According to the Daily Mail, the "playful tiff" as Lawson's husband described it, lasted as long as 27 minutes a lot longer than people initially thought. In the photos released by UK newspaper, Sunday People, Charles Saatchi, Lawson's husband, was seen grabbing Lawson's nose and grabbing her by the throat.
According to the website, the photographer "timed the incident at just under half an hour, describing it as 27 minutes of madness."
In one of the photographs were he grabs her nose, Saatchi is seen pinching his wife's and apparently looking up her nostril. In another shot, he pinches her nose again and this time sticks a finger up her right nostril. Both times Lawson grimaces and dabs at her nose and eyes with a handkerchief, the website reports. Other photos leaked last week of Saatchi as he appears to choke his wife.
According to the Daily Mail, the former advertising tycoon accepted a police citation for assault and reportedly Lawson left the family home after the pictures surfaced. She was spotted after the incident outside of an apartment she is renting without her wedding ring.
Lawson might have moved out the house for good because over the weekend a large bag of clothes was seen being delivered to her apartment. According to a source, people knew Saatchi and Lawson were having problems in their relationship.
"A lot of us involved on her telly shows knew if Nigella and Charles had been having arguments," the source told the Daily Mail. "It was often easy to tell if Nigella was feeling slightly upset or angry about something at home."
After the incident, Saatchi defended his actions by claiming that he was only wiping snot from his wife's nose calling it a "playful tiff," The Mirror reports.
"We were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense discussion about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasis my point," he told The Mirror. "There was no grio. It was a playful tiff."
Even though Saatchi claims there was harm behind his actions he did accept the police citation telling the newspaper that it was "better than having it hanging over all of us for months."
