Nigella Lawson told Isleworth Crown Court that the drug allegations were "dedicated to salvaging Mr Saatchi's reputation and destroying mine."
#Nigella Lawson is giving evidence standing unlike Charles Saatchi. Dressed in black. Voice occasionally trembling. Calls ex Mr Saatchi.
Sky nick pisa
@NickPisa
#Nigella Lawson is giving evidence standing unlike Charles Saatchi. Dressed in black. Voice occasionally trembling. Calls ex Mr Saatchi.
#Nigella its very difficult when ii find out some you have loved and trusted can behave this way.
Ian Woods
@IanWoodsSky
#Nigella its very difficult when ii find out some you have loved and trusted can behave this way.
#Nigella On her ex husband Charles Saatchi If I did not go back to him and clear his name he said he would destroy me.
Ian Woods
@IanWoodsSky
#Nigella On her ex husband Charles Saatchi If I did not go back to him and clear his name he said he would destroy me.
She said that her ex-husband Charles Saatchi started spreading false rumours as a way of "getting back at me."
She admitted to taking cocaine "a handful of times", but insisted she was not a habitual user.
She also admitted smoking cannabis in the last year of her marriage to Charles Saatchi, but said she has now given up.
It's alleged that Italian sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo used credit cards loaned to them by Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi to spend more than £685,000 on themselves.
She told the court she took out £7,000 from her savings to pay for Elisabetta Grillo to have her teeth fixed.
#Nigella The sense of betrayal on the part of my children wounds me. I was flabbergasted when I learned of the spending.
Ian Woods
@IanWoodsSky
#Nigella The sense of betrayal on the part of my children wounds me. I was flabbergasted when I learned of the spending.
In my heart of hearts I do not believe Lisa (Elisabetta) to be a bad person. I believe her not to have a very strong moral compass.
She said her children were "hurt to the quick" by an article describing her as a "surrogate mother." She said she had faced a long summer of "bullying and abuse."
The case continues.