TV chef Nigella Lawson turned down “many, many” job offers because her possessive ex-hubby didn’t want her cooking outside their London home, a court was told on Monday.
Lawson, a judge on ABC’s “The Taste,” wanted to break in big in the United States but the chef’s now-ex-husband Charles Saatchi, allegedly disapproved.
“She is a people person and Charles is quite the opposite,” Lawson’s former personal assistant Francesca Grillo testified.
“So on many, many occasions, she had to turn down things … because Charles wouldn’t approve.”
Grillo, 35, and sister Elisabetta Grillo, 41, are on trial in London for allegedly using a household credit card for luxury gifts for themselves.
The defendants claim Lawson let them use the card, in exchange for their silence on the Food Network star’s alleged, rampant drug use. Lawson was forced to admit, on the witness stand, that she’s indulged in cocaine and pot but insisted she’s not an addict.
Francesca Grillo also testified that Saatchi let her use the card.
“I was told to buy whatever I wanted with that card,” she testified.