Known for her highly readable cookbooks and her equally watchable cooking shows, Lawson has taken the world by storm.
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00:00Writer, cookbook author, and TV personality Nigella Lawson has built an empire around
00:06her domestic goddess lifestyle.
00:08Known for her recipe books and cooking shows, Lawson found fame with her picture-perfect
00:13kitchen and her relatable personality.
00:15Curious about how she rose to the top?
00:18Here's why Nigella Lawson is turning heads.
00:22Lawson wasn't born into a family of foodies, but she certainly had a leg up from the very
00:26beginning.
00:27Her dad, Nigel Lawson, was a well-known conservative politician, and her mother, Vanessa Salmon,
00:33was a popular British socialite and heir to an enormous food industry dynasty.
00:38But despite having access to the finer things in life, Nigella and her three siblings didn't
00:42appear to enjoy a peaceful home life.
00:45When Lawson described her mother, she told The Guardian,
00:48"...she was one of those people who was full of stress and anxiety.
00:52You know, if you knock something over it will be difficult, and I'm clumsy."
00:55Lawson also seemed to note that her childhood may have been an unhappy one, adding,
01:00"...I don't think any of us siblings would regard it as a childhood we would want to
01:04return to."
01:05"...I feel that my way of describing the past is probably too violent.
01:12In a way I feel I have a scorched earth policy."
01:15While some chefs take their inspiration from their family's love of food, for Lawson, it
01:20was a very different story.
01:22As another magazine explained, the budding chef didn't exactly grow up in a household
01:26that fostered a healthy relationship with food.
01:29In fact, her mom, Vanessa, reportedly struggled with various eating disorders throughout her
01:34life and even admitted to being afraid of certain foods.
01:37"...One of the things about coming from a Jewish family is that I think whatever kind
01:42of business you're in, food is always, you know, central."
01:46But it appears that witnessing her mother's difficult relationship with food was what
01:50inspired Lawson to do the exact opposite.
01:54She told The Guardian,
01:55"...my attitude towards food is such a repudiation of her, a triumph over her, thinking, I'm
02:01not going to play that game, I'm not going to be that thin."
02:05Lawson's relaxed and joyful approach to eating would later become the basis of the chef's
02:09successful career.
02:12According to the star herself, Lawson was actually very shy as a child.
02:16While this personality trait may seem like the polar opposite of her outgoing TV persona,
02:21Lawson has admitted that her introverted nature still affects her as an adult.
02:25She explained to the BBC,
02:27"...I don't think being shy and being on television are opposites, actually.
02:31When I have a purpose, I can do it."
02:33"...I don't know that I've ever thought, oh, I need to cook to make myself feel better,
02:39but I certainly think cooking does make me feel better."
02:43It turns out that Lawson's quieter nature might have actually led to the star that we
02:47know and love today.
02:49As the chef explained to the New Zealand Herald, she actually developed her seemingly innately
02:54warm hosting persona as a way to deal with her shyness.
02:58When Lawson was 19, she and her family spent a year in Italy that would impact Nigella
03:03for life.
03:05She explained to Grub Street just how informative that chapter was, both in regards to her approach
03:10to food as well as her sense of culture, telling the outlet,
03:14"...my personality changed somewhat.
03:17When I spoke Italian, I became more voluble and less reserved.
03:20My sense of becoming a person is inextricably linked with Italy and becoming Italian, or
03:26attempting to."
03:27It's also clear that the exposure to vibrant local cuisine inspired the chef as well.
03:32In her Italian cookbook, Nigellissima, Lawson got the chance to explore her fascination
03:37with the country's food culture.
03:39She told Fine Dining Lovers,
03:41"...Italian food has always been a huge influence.
03:44In this book, I found myself writing about the influence Italy has had on my cooking
03:49as an English cook.
03:50For me, Italy and Italian food have both been the most enduring inspirations of my life
03:56and my cooking."
03:58After spending time in Italy, Lawson enrolled at the prestigious University of Oxford to
04:02study medieval and modern languages.
04:05But she claims the most important thing she learned during her time as a student was just
04:09how much she loved to cook for others.
04:12She recalled to the Oxford Mail,
04:14"...I would go to the covered market a lot to buy onions and sausages.
04:17I cooked an awful lot.
04:19French onion soup was my speciality.
04:21That's when I realized I was someone who liked feeding people."
04:24"...I have emotional connections to all sorts of food, but it's more to do with what I've
04:28eaten when."
04:30But she wasn't just wowing her friends with some home-cooked meals.
04:34She was also making a bit of a splash in the media, and was frequently photographed
04:38for society magazines.
04:40It's clear that even during her college years, she was already beginning to show signs of
04:44a star-making turn.
04:47After graduating college, Lawson landed her first job, as a journalist.
04:51And it seems that at that time, working as a TV personality and cookbook writer wasn't
04:55even in her plans.
04:57Lawson was soon tapped as the deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times, after which she
05:02became a freelance journalist, writing for The Guardian and The Daily Telegraph.
05:07Lawson also appeared on TV as a presenter and reporter, even covering Princess Diana's
05:12tragic death for Newsnight in 1997.
05:14"...not all the strands of her life could come together, and she didn't always seem to get
05:19everything right, which is why perhaps ordinary women felt such a sense of connection with
05:24her."
05:25It wasn't until 1985, when Lawson landed a food column for The Spectator, that she began
05:30to cross over into her true passion.
05:32She went on to pen another food column for British Vogue in 1995, and by that point,
05:37it was becoming clear that food writing was Lawson's specialty.
05:42In 1992, Lawson married fellow journalist John Diamond, who also worked for The Sunday
05:47Times.
05:48The couple went on to have two children, Bruno and Mimi.
05:51And for Lawson, starting a family was a life-changing experience.
05:55She revealed to Radio Times,
05:57People who don't have children imagine that their whole lives would be all right if they
06:01had children.
06:02But they don't realize that having children gives you lots of problems.
06:06One is in constant worry.
06:08"...it is very difficult to have a working life if you have a family, if you have children."
06:13By the looks of things, Lawson has always remained deeply involved in her children's
06:18lives.
06:19When Bruno was a teen, a friend told The Express,
06:21"...he adores his mummy's cooking and appears quite often in her TV programs, looking sheepishly
06:26out from his mop of hair, virtually licking the plate clean."
06:30"...I cook for my children.
06:31I grew up eating my mother's hair, and I don't see why they can't grow up eating mine."
06:36As for Mimi, the Daily Mail snapped her having lunch with her mother in 2020.
06:40It certainly seems like this famous chef has always prioritized quality time with her kids.
06:46In 1997, just as Lawson's career was taking off, her husband, John, was diagnosed with
06:52throat cancer.
06:53What followed was a difficult four years, during which John's tongue had to be removed,
06:58and he was fed through a tube.
07:00He died in 2001 at the age of 47.
07:03As The Guardian noted, throughout their last few years, the couple made the most of their
07:08time together by frequently throwing parties for their friends.
07:11Shortly after John's death, Lawson was already back to work.
07:15She explained to The Telegraph,
07:16"...I took two weeks off, but I'm not a great believer in breaks."
07:20But it appears that this is exactly what John would have wanted for Nigella.
07:25In an emotional farewell note, he wrote,
07:27"...how proud I am of you and what you have become.
07:30The great thing about us is that we have made us who we are."
07:34Prior to her husband's death, Lawson lost her mother and sister to cancer.
07:39The chef's mother was just 48 when she died, and her sister was just 32.
07:44Their passing had a profound impact on Lawson, and she explained to Good Housekeeping in
07:492020,
07:50"...to be completely honest, I've never been able to take for granted that I'd be alive
07:54by this age.
07:56Even if I were the sort of person who planned ahead, I don't think I would have seen myself
07:59here.
08:00I kind of think you can't do anything about aging, so why complain?"
08:05Lawson went into more detail about how her mom and sister's untimely deaths influenced
08:10her perceptions on aging, telling The Sunday Times,
08:13"...when you have seen people you love die young, the idea of complaining about getting
08:17older is just revolting."
08:20Having spent more than a decade working as a journalist, in 1998, Lawson finally released
08:25her first book, How to Eat, The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food.
08:30At the time, The Guardian noted that it was so well-written, it was almost the kind of
08:34cookbook you could read in the bedroom, rather than just in the kitchen.
08:39With literary success under her belt, Lawson hit TVs across the globe.
08:43In 1998, she appeared on Nigel Slater's Real Food, and it didn't take long for producers
08:48to realize that, without a doubt, Lawson was made for TV.
08:52Two years later, in 2000, she landed her first cooking show, Nigella Bites.
08:57But while her on-camera work is what made her a household name, it hasn't been an easy
09:02task for the chef.
09:03She told Good Housekeeping,
09:05"...it's physically very draining standing up and filming all day.
09:09It's a bit frightening and I always think, I don't know if I can do this again.
09:13But then I start, and I get excited again."
09:15But fans need not fear.
09:17Lawson isn't leaving our small screens anytime soon.
09:20As of 2020, she is still filming the BBC series Cook, Eat, Repeat.
09:25"...no, that's going to be good."
09:28After mourning the loss of her first husband, Lawson remarried well-known art collector
09:32and advertising exec, Charles Saatchi, fairly quickly.
09:36But after almost ten years together, scandal hit the couple after a photographer captured
09:41shocking images of Saatchi seemingly assaulting Lawson in public.
09:46The photographer recalled the event, telling Vanity Fair that he had spotted the couple
09:50sitting outside a restaurant, celebrating Saatchi's 70th birthday.
09:55Explaining that Saatchi appeared to grab Lawson by the throat, he claimed,
09:58"...I saw her lurch violently backwards.
10:01Then he did it a second time, and it was so violent."
10:04The photos led to a major tabloid scandal, and eventually, to court.
10:08The case was filled with wild accusations about everything from embezzlement to drug
10:13use.
10:14Saatchi originally claimed that the photos merely showed a, quote, "...playful tiff."
10:19But in 2013, shortly after the scandal, Lawson and Saatchi divorced.
10:25Having her personal life strewn across the tabloids while photographers closely followed
10:29her family was brutal for Lawson, who has always preferred her privacy.
10:34In fact, the bad press proved to be so difficult, she developed a new policy of only discussing
10:39her professional life in interviews.
10:41But while she's kept mum on personal topics, Lawson did open up in one interview, explaining
10:46how the tabloid scandal had completely impacted her life.
10:50She told The Irish Times,
10:51"...Becoming a tabloid story and everything I went through then, shame, various things,
10:56in a way, gave me a form of trauma of its own, and I don't think I've addressed that
11:00enough to talk about it."
11:03Despite the obvious challenges in her personal life, Lawson has continued to steadily build
11:08her empire throughout the years.
11:10In fact, she has reportedly sold at least three million books around the world, while
11:15her net worth sits somewhere around $15 million.
11:19She has also made sparkling appearances on Top Chef, Iron Chef America, and MasterChef,
11:24while continuing to release cooking shows and specials on a regular basis.
11:29N'Gela Lawson
11:30"...Gordon Ramsay named a turkey after her.
11:32She's legit."
11:34Even Lawson is able to acknowledge how far she's come.
11:37She looked back at her early days and the release of her first book, and admitted that
11:41everything had indeed changed for her.
11:43In fact, her celebrity status just might be comparable to that of a beloved royal.
11:48As British food writer Diana Henry explained to The Irish Times,
11:52"...in the UK, I often think that she has Princess Diana-like status as a celebrity.
11:58She is that well-known, she is that well-liked."
12:01For Lawson, the COVID-19 pandemic forced her to take a step back from her busy schedule
12:07and re-evaluate her priorities as she embarked on lockdown alone.
12:11She mused to The Guardian,
12:13"...I suppose that survival thing kicked in, and it felt important to think about food
12:17because it became clear that it gave structure, sustenance, and pleasure.
12:22I'm very happy not having to fill up my life going to things."
12:25"...this needs to be eaten in calm and appreciative silence."
12:30And while just about everyone has had to lean into a new normal, Lawson appears to have
12:34found the silver lining in the face of the unknown.
12:37She told the outlet,
12:38"...I have learned to relish solitude, which was prescient, it turned out.
12:44Lockdown showed how much I enjoy cooking for myself."