nigella-strangle-230.jpgTV chef/Taste judge Nigella Lawson made headlines this morning after photos of her husband, Charles Saatchi, putting his hands around her neck surfaced online.

The two were snapped lunching at Scott’s in the Mayfair district, and according to eyewitnesses, the millionaire ad exec/art collector grabbed his wife's throat FOUR times, first using only his left hand, and then both.

“It was utterly shocking to watch,” one onlooker told the Mirror. “I have no doubt she was scared. It was horrific, ­really. She was very tearful and was ­constantly dabbing her eyes. 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 was trying to calm him down, almost like you would try to calm down a child. The kiss was a strange thing. He was being ­intimidating, ­threatening. And yet she kissed him. She ­appeared to be a woman who loves him but was clearly unable to stop him being abusive, ­frightening and ­disrespectful to her.”

Saatchi stomped off, and the source on the scene added, “He looked guilty. It was clear he knew he’d done something wrong. He was menacing, there’s no ­question. She had been abused and ­humiliated in public.”

Click HERE to see the shocking pictures...

UPDATE:
Saatchi released the following statement:

    "About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point. There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but 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. We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke [Sunday] morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."


Photo courtesy of Hugo Burnand