nigella-strangle-230.jpgWell, we didn't see this coming.

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson's husband Charles Saatchi is filing for divorce. The art mogul told U.K.'s Daily Mail on Sunday that he's disappointed his wife didn't publicly defend him following their fight at a London restaurant in early June. Photos surfaced of Charles grabbing Nigella's throat during the lunch date where she appeared to be crying and visibly upset. Charles was given a police "caution" after admitting assault.

    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. 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.


He also suggested in the statement that Lawson herself has grasped his neck in the past.

    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.


Charles defended his actions after the incident made headlines, describing it as a "playful tiff" during an intense conversation about their children. Nigella has two kids with her late first husband, journalist John Diamond, and Charles has a daughter from a previous marriage. The couple wed in 2003.