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Saatchi and Nigella divorce: Charles Saatchi announces divorce from Nigella Lawson after chocking photos

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Charles Saatchi has announced he is divorcing his wife, the television chef Nigella Lawson.

The announcement follows the publication of photographs which showed art collector Charles Saatchi with his hands around Nigella Lawson’s throat at a London restaurant in June.

Charles Saatchi, 70, who accepted a police caution for assault, told the Mail on Sunday he had “clearly been a disappointment” to his wife.

He said it was a “heartbreaking” decision for him.

Charles Saatchi said the couple had “become estranged and drifted apart” over the past year.

“I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced,” he told the newspaper.

“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.”

“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,” he added.

Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson’s divorce announcement follows the publication of photographs which showed the art collector with his hands around his wife's throat at a London restaurant in June

Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson’s divorce announcement follows the publication of photographs which showed the art collector with his hands around his wife’s throat at a London restaurant in June

The pictures of the couple at a restaurant in Mayfair, central London, showed Charles Saatchi grasping his wife’s neck.

The images, which were first published in the Sunday People, provoked a public debate about domestic violence among the rich and famous.

Charles Saatchi dismissed the incident as “a playful tiff” but later accepted a police caution for assault, saying he had done so to stop the incident “hanging over” them.

Nigella Lawson has made no comment since the incident.

Charles Saatchi, a former advertising executive, is a well known art collector and owner of the Saatchi Gallery.

He donated his Chelsea art gallery, including more than 200 works of art, to the British public in 2010.

Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson have been married since 2003.

She has two children, Cosima and Bruno, from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died in 2001.

Nigella Lawson first began a restaurant column in The Spectator in 1985 and by the following year had become deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times.

She then went on to write the book How to Eat, followed by the award-winning book, How to be a Domestic Goddess.

Nigella Lawson’s television cookery programmes – including Nigella Bites and Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen – have brought her international fame.