Disturbing photos have surfaced on the Internet of what appears to be celebrity chef Nigella Lawson being choked by her husband in public after a disagreement, ABC News reports.
The photos, published by the UK newspaper The Mirror, show 70-year-old Charles Saatchi and his wife, 53-year-old Nigella Lawson in what appears to be an intense conversation. Saatchi then allegedly puts both hands around his wife's throat. In several other pictures he grabs at Lawson's nose as she shuts her eyes and puts his hand in her face to cover her mouth.
Witnesses told the newspaper that it looked like a violent encounter but no one intervened.
"It was utterly shocking to watch," one witness told The Mirror. "I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, really. She was very tearful and was constantly dabbing her eyes."
The newspaper reports that they were at Scott's restaurant in London, where celebrities are often seen dining. According to witnesses at the restaurant, after the incident, Lawson was reportedly seen patting her husband's hand as if trying to calm him down and kissed his cheek. A couple sitting adjacent from Lawson and her husband, who the paper said spoke to the chef earlier, gasped and appeared shocked as they saw what was happening.
"Nigella was very, very upset. She had a real look of fear on her face. No man should do that to a woman. She raised her voice and got angry but at the same time she was trying to calm him down, almost like you would try to calm down a child."
According to the newspaper, Saatchi put his hands around Lawson's neck four different times. The two have been married for ten years. During the conversation it was reported that the celebrity chef nodded intently several times as the conversation became more and more heated. By the end of their disagreement witnesses say she was clearly upset and in tears as her husband got up and walked away from the table.
"He looked guilty. It was clear he knew he'd done something wrong," a witness said. "He was menacing, there's no question she had been abused and humiliated in public."
A Scotland Yard spokesperson said the incident was going to be looked into by police but no arrest had been made.
According to the Telegraph, Lawson and her teenage children have since moved out of the house.
"I can clarify that she has left the family home with her children," a spokesperson for the family told the British newspaper. "Inquiries are in hand to establish the facts, in order to assess whether an investigation is necessary."
Lawson is a British food writer and is most known for her appearance as a judge on ABC's cooking competition show "The Taste."
