Nigella Lawson is known around the world for her impressive cooking skills, trademark curves and effortless charm, but when she’s not in front of the camera, the 62-year-old keeps her personal life as private as possible.
While the celebrity chef, who will be judging alongside Manu Feildel on My Kitchen Rules‘ upcoming season, isn’t currently married, she’s had a string of high-profile romances.
The mother-of-two has also been dealt her fair share of heartache, with her first husband passing away and her second marriage ending in a messy, public divorce.
Keep reading to learn more about Nigella’s past relationships and children.
Nigella’s first husband John Diamond tragically died in 2001.
(Image: Getty)Nigella’s first husband, John Diamond
Nigella met journalist John Diamond in 1986, when they were both writing for the UK’s Sunday Times.
The pair fell in love and tied the knot in Venice in 1992, before welcoming daughter, Cosima, and son, Bruno.
Sadly, John was diagnosed with throat cancer in 1997 and died in March 2001, aged 47.
One of John’s last messages to the celebrity chef was, “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.”
Nigella has previously opened up about suffering depression after losing the love of her life.
“I took a fortnight off. But I’m not a great believer in breaks” she said of taking time off from her show Nigella Bites.
Nigella and her second husband Charles split after 10 years together.
(Image: Getty)Nigella’s second husband, Charles Saatchi
Nigella tied the knot with art collector Charles Saatchi in September 2003, but their tumultuous 10-year-long marriage gained intense media attention.
The former couple dominated headlines when photos were published of Charles with his hands around Nigella’s throat during an argument outside a restaurant in June 2013.
Nigella then applied for divorce, citing ongoing unreasonable behaviour. In July, seven weeks after the incident, the pair were granted a decree nisi, effectively ending their marriage.
Charles told the press that he had “clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so” and the couple had “become estranged and drifted apart”.
The businessman denied assaulting Nigella, later saying: “I was not gripping, strangling or throttling her. I was holding her head by the neck to make her focus. I wanted her to focus on what we were speaking about.”
In an interview with The Irish Times in 2019, Nigella broke her silence on their split and the “trauma” she went through as it played out in the public eye.
“It was generally about feeling exposed and under attack [by the media attention]. In a way, it would have been much better for me to be able to speak openly,” she said.
“It goes against my nature not to. But I do think that becoming a tabloid story, and everything I went through then, shame, various things, in a way gave me a form of trauma of its own. And I don’t think I’ve addressed that enough to talk about it.”
Cosima and her two kids Cosima and Bruno, both now in their 20s, are pictured in 2005.
(Image: Getty)Nigella’s kids, Cosima and Bruno
Nigella has always made it her first priority to ensure the lives of her two children, Cosima, 28, and Bruno, 26, are kept low-key.
“I’m very protective of my children because they don’t want attention, it’s not their thing and they didn’t choose this life,” she told The Australian Women’s Weekly in May 2019
“In many ways I don’t feel like I chose it either, but I guess that’s what happens if you go on TV.”
In a previous interview with The Mirror, Nigella got candid on her special bond with her lookalike daughter, revealing Cosima had given her sage advice during her split with Charles.
“I have been forced to be guarded. I used to be more open and I’d like to think I will be again. Cosima said to me, ‘Mum, would you rather be a real person like you or someone who has hair and make- up done to go to the supermarket? It is better to be a real person.’ She’s right,” Nigella said.
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