Just four weeks after pictures surfaced of Charles Saatchi with his hands around his wife's throat, he has decided to file for divorce, CNN reports. The 70-year-old art director reportedly has already begun filing the paperwork an announced the news to the Daily Mail. Nigella Lawson had no idea he wanted a divorce even though she moved out of their family home weeks ago. Saatchi told the newspaper, that he felt like he was forced to file divorce because his wife would not defend him.
From the very beginning Saatchi has maintained his innocence saying that he has never abused his wife and the pictures were not what they seemed. In the weeks following the incident, Lawson has moved out of the family home and would not return any of her husband's phone calls or text messages. He told the newspaper, that after the pictures were published, Lawson's PR advisor, Mark Hutchinson, told him to apologize to his wife and publicly admit that he was "ashamed" about what he did. Lawson reportedly agreed to the idea but Saatchi felt it would ruin his reputation if he confessed to abusing his wife. He also said since it wasn't the truth he would not do it and he was upset with Lawson for siding with her publicist. Saatchi told Lawson to pack her bags and get out if she would defend him and she did.
In a statement to the Daily Mail, Saatchi said he was heartbroken over what happened and felt a divorce was necessary.
"I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced. I feel that i have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so. 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. I must stress again that my actions were not violent. We are instructively tactile people. Yes, my hands were around her neck, and they had been touching her arm. Difficult as it may be to believe, for those who have seen the pictures, there was no pressure applied to her. In fact it was merely a gesture - one to which a still photograph gives a wholly different and incorrect implication. Nigella has given a statement to the police to support this view. I am sorry that we had a row. I am sorry she was upset. I am even more sorry that this is the end of our marriage. I wish Nigella only the best for her future, and her continuing global success. She remains the most wonderful woman in the world. I feel very fortunate to have had such a lovely wife for many years."
A friend told the paper that Lawson and her husband had been arguing over their 19-year-old daughter about what school she should attend. Out of frustration, Saatchi reached across the table and put his hands around Lawson's throat but there was no pressure applied to the grabbing and he was not trying to hurt her, the friend said.
"They both understood, straight away, how terrible to whole thing looked. They were appalled. Charles was utterly shell-shocked. They both were," the friend said. "They just stood there and looked at each other and said 'What are we going to do?'"
There has been no mention of the divorce or the incident on Lawson's Twitter page.
