Nigella Lawson Leaves House Shared With Husband Charles Saatchi After Alleged Choking Incident

British celebrity chef has "no comment" further on purported incident now being investigated by London Metropolitan Police

By Rebecca Macatee Jun 17, 2013 4:58 PMTags
Nigella LawsonToby Canham/Getty Images

Nigella Lawson isn't taking any chances when it comes to her relationship with husband Charles Saatchi.

As the London Metropolitan Police investigate an alleged choking incident between the spouses, a rep for Lawson tells E! News the British celebrity chef "has left the house" shared with Saatchi.

Other than that, Lawson's rep had "no comment" on the purported incident.

Photos showing Saatchi, an advertising bigwig, appearing to choke his wife of nine years in a restaurant were published in The Mirror's Sunday People edition. An onlooker added that Saatchi, 70, grabbed the 53-year-old chef's throat first with his left hand and then with both, and that Lawson later left the restaurant in tears.

Saatchi insisted to the London Evening Standard the alleged incident was a "playful tiff" and the pictures "give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place."

"Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt," he claimed, adding that he and Lawson "made up by the time we were home."

—Reporting by Ruth O'Neill