Charles Saatchi, Nigella Lawson Headed For Divorce

Charles Saatchi is filing for divorce from celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, who he was photographed holding by the throat during a lunch date argument last month.

Saatchi, a multi-millionaire art collector, confirmed the pair’s forthcoming split over the weekend, and explained his motivations for calling it quits after 10 years of marriage. "I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced,” he told the Daily Mail. "I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so, and I am disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way.

"This is heartbreaking for both of us as our love was very deep, but in the last year we have become estranged and drifted apart… The row photographed at Scott’s restaurant could equally have been Nigella grasping my neck to hold my attention – as indeed she has done in the past, although not in front of Scott's with a photographer snapping away.”

Lawson, 53, moved out of the home she shared with Saatchi, 70, in Chelsea, West London a week after the highly-publicized row. Since then, she's been staying in a rented apartment while looking for a new permanent flat with her children. Saatchi claims that he has not had any contact with Lawson since the altercation outside of Scott’s restaurant in London.

While the troubled married couple dined outside of Scott’s, photographers snapped pictures of the disturbing public fight. Saatchi is shown leaning across their table, his arm outstretched with his hand clasped around Lawson's throat. Lawson appears frightened and tearful in the pictures that include one of Saatchi pinching her nose. "It was utterly shocking to watch," one patron of the eatery told The Mirror. "I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes."

Lawson and Saatchi married in September 2003. It was the third marriage for Saatchi and second for Lawson, who was widowed when her husband and the father to her two children died in 2001 after a battle with throat cancer.

Get Uinterview's FREE iPhone App For Daily News Updates here.

Get the FREE Uinterview iPad app here and watch our videos anywhere.