Nigella Lawson's painful love life from showbiz divorce to husband who died

11 October 2023 , 18:30

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Nigella Lawson was married to Charles Saatchi for 10 years before their very public breakdown (Image: Alan Davidson/The Picture Library Ltd)

She's one of Britain's most loved chefs, but Nigella Lawson has dealt with her fair share of tragedies outside of the kitchen. The 63-year-old domestic goddess rose to fame in 1998 with her first cookery book How To Eat, and one year later she hosted her own cooking show, Nigella Bites, on Channel 4.

The award-winning TV cook has had many highs and lows through her successful career. Just three years after her cookbook took off, her first husband, journalist John Diamond, tragically died of throat cancer aged just 47. He was credited with helping develop her brand and transform her into a national treasure.

Nigella was married to her first husband John Diamond before he tragically died aged 47 (REX/Shutterstock)

The pair met while both working at The Telegraph in 1989, then married just three years later in Venice, Italy. "I was a journalist - not a food journalist, but I did do quite a bit of cooking. As a consequence I cooked for editors quite a bit," Nigella explained to BBC Radio 2 after his death. "John, my late husband, said to me, 'You always talk about food in this really confident way. You should write about it!' So I did." John was diagnosed with oral cancer in 1995 and found it therapeutic to write about his illness in his column and in his best-selling book, C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too.

The popular journalist, who is the father of Nigella's children Cosima and Bruno, was praised for his witty and thought-provoking articles. But he also had desire for Nigella, who has admitted she is naturally shy, to be a success and pushed her further into the limelight. He wrote down a heartbreaking final message to his wife, confessing he was immensely proud of her. "How proud I am of you and what you have become. The great thing about us is that we have made us who we are," read John's emotional message. Sadly, John passed away in March 2001 while his wife had been filming her TV show.

Devastated Nigella wanted to keep busy, so took just two weeks to grieve before going back to work. "I took a fortnight off. But I'm not a great believer in breaks," she told The Telegraph in May 2001. "I don't want to be rattling around inside my own head. I did feel I was spiralling into a Kathy Burke character and tried going out, but I prefer it here. Filming keeps me busy. It absorbs me. Of course it is displacing certain thoughts but, in a way, I don't think grieving should be your full-time job. That seems a rather modern idea. To act as if you don't have a life is probably not sensible, especially when you have children."

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Art collector Charles Saatchi and Nigella were married for 10 years (Getty)

There was a tremendous response to John's death, with most newspapers devoting many pages to the journalist. Nigella wasn't focused on the public sympathy, but kept press clippings about her husband in what she described as her 'Morbidobox'. "I was pleased because I hadn't foreseen any of it, in the sense that I didn't know John was going to die when he did," she said. As well as the heartbreak of losing John, Nigella tragically lost her mother and sister when they were very young.

Her sister Thomasina died from breast cancer in 1993, while her mum Vanessa passed away from liver cancer in 1985 when Nigella was just 25. As a result, Nigella did not make any plans to mark her 60th birthday. "I'm not a planner – apart from when it comes to food," she told Good Housekeeping. "But to be completely honest, I've never been able to take for granted that I'd be alive by this age. My mother died at 48 and my sister at 32. And then John at 47. So, even if I were the sort of person who planned ahead, I don't think I would have seen myself here."

Three years after John passed away, Nigella married wealthy art collector and advertising agency founder, Charles Saatchi, in 2003. But their marriage broke down after 10 years. In 2014, Nigella told Michael McIntyre on his chat show: "I have had better times. It's spring and I am feeling better and I am very happy to be here. I have been alive longer than you, so I know life has its dips and it can get better and you can't fight it."

In 2019, she opened up to The Irish Times about the 'trauma' she went through as the split played out. "It was generally about feeling exposed and under attack," she shared. "In a way, it would have been much better for me to be able to speak openly." It is unknown if Nigella is in a relationship now as she largely keeps her private life out of the spotlight.

Nigella: At My Table airs at 8:30pm on BBC Two tonight.

Nia Dalton