A doomed, destructive marriage: Nigella complained Saatchi kept her in a 'gold cage' and wrecked her TV career Charles Saatchi said he still 'adores' Nigella and is 'heartbroken' by divorce Nigella told the jury she turned to cocaine after being subjected to 'intimate terrorism' by Charles Saatchi during their 10-year marriage Witnesses told of a man who demanded a spotless kitchen and made them buy copies of his books Millionaire would eat burnt toast and drink weak tea in the morning Saatchi said the photo of him grabbing her throat outside a restaurant was the result of him trying to get her to 'focus' on him Nigella said the row was caused by her telling Mr Saatchi she wanted to have grandchildren one day He 'regrets' email calling her "Higella" and accusing her of poisoning daughter with drugs It was a painful admission from a heartbroken old man in front of a spellbound courtroom audience. With jurors, legal teams and the world's media watching, Charles Saatchi admitted he was 'devastated' to have divorced his wife Nigella Lawson who he still 'adores'. The celebrity couple split after remarkable pictures, taken outside Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London, in June appeared to show Mr Saatchi 'throttling' Miss Lawson. Within weeks of the pictures being published around the world, they had divorced. 'Throttling': Nigella Lawson and Charles Saatchi divorced after he was seen grabbing her by the throat outside Scott's restaurant in Mayfair, central London Taking to the witness stand, in an apparent plea for clemency, Mr Saatchi expressed his regret and said he wished this year had never happened. The £100million former ad man, who accused Miss Lawson, 53, of drug abuse in a bombshell email read out in court, admitted he had been 'nasty' when he branded her 'Higella' and accused her of being off her head. Yet while Mr Saatchi said he wished this year had never happened, his ex-wife told the court she was happy to move on with her life. Pointedly, when Anthony Metzer QC described the divorce as 'unfortunate', she hurriedly interrupted and said 'I wouldn't say unfortunate'. And when the barrister accidentally referred to Miss Lawson as 'Mrs Saatchi' she snapped and demanded to know what he had said. The lawyer quickly apologised. It had once been so different. Friends for years before the death of Nigella's first husband, John Diamond, in 2001, they started seeing each other soon after and married two years later. 'Unfortunate divorce': Nigella Lawson reacted angrily when Anthony Metzer QC described her split from Charles Saatchi as 'unfortunate'. She quickly interjected 'I wouldn't say unfortunate' The Grillo sisters, Elisabetta and Francesca, were witnesses at the wedding and the only other people present. But according to the sisters, the 10-year marriage was not a happy one. They told the court of Nigella's repeated complaints - that she was not allowed to go out, that she was not allowed dinner parties, that she was being kept, in her words, in a 'gold cage'. Laying bare the tension in the couple's home in Eaton Square, Belgravia, Francesca told the jury: "Before she started her new show... she had another offer - but she always put them off because Charles didn't like the idea of her being away for that long." Divorce: Mr Saatchi (right) said he was 'heartbroken' to have lost Nigella (left) - but she did not reciprocate and made clear she was happy to move on with her life They were the pictures that revealed the desperate state of Charles Saatchi and Nigella Lawson's marriage, and perhaps even triggered its demise. Taken in June outside Scott's restaurant in London's Mayfair - Mr Saatchi's favourite restaurant, where he has often been seen with Miss Lawson and others - they showed him gripping his then wife by the throat, and tweaking her nose. At the time the reporting focused on the apparent violence of the situation, and Mr Saatchi accepted a police caution. But the jury at Isleworth Crown Court heard three very different accounts of what had happened. According to Mr Saatchi, it was simply a question of getting Miss Lawson to focus. I was not gripping, strangling or throttling her," he said. But according to his ex-wife, the cause was someone walking past the restaurant with a "very cute baby in a stroller." When Nigella told her husband she was "so looking forward to having grandchildren" he grabbed her by the throat, saying 'I'm the only person you should be concerned with.' She said, however, that Saatchi had later "told everyone that he was taking cocaine out of my nose" - and that is what the couple's former housekeepers, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, told the court they had seen in the photos. "When Charles picked her nose at Scott's restaurant it was proof that she was still doing drugs," said Elisabetta Grillo, 41. Asked if Miss Lawson was happy, Francesca replied: "I think in general no, her relationship, no. She is a very sociable woman. And there was much of which he did not approve. Over the three-week trial, the court was repeatedly painted a picture of an overbearing and domineering man who demanded that his world was kept exactly as he wanted it. He was, said his ex-wife, a "brilliant but brutal" man - with little patience for those who displeased him. When he wanted something doing, he wanted it 'yesterday'. When angry, he shouted and swore. Miss Lawson spoke at length about her ex-husband's irritability saying: "Yes, he did have a temper and I don't think that anyone can be in any doubt he had a temper." As a result, their team of assistants - styled by Miss Lawson as "Team Cupcake" - lived in fear of the millionaire art dealer, the court heard. At one point Elisabetta Grillo found him so unpleasant she moved out of free accommodation in the family home to be away from him, according to Miss Lawson. His perfectionism started from the moment he got up. Francesca Grillo told the court it was her job to ensure the kitchen in their £27million Belgravia home was spotlessly clean by the time he had breakfast at 7am. 'The kitchen had to be quite spotless by the time Charles came down to breakfast,' she told the court. He made his own breakfast, always a cup of weak tea and burnt toast, but it was his staff who fetched his iced frappuccinos and sewed his buttons, as well as cleaning the house - Saatchi would walk around pointing out marks on the walls, according to Miss Lawson - and helping take care of the couple's three children. Perhaps the most extraordinary claim concerned his repeated demands for their assistants to go out and buy his books to boost their position on the bestseller list. And - perhaps surprisingly given the enormous amounts spent on plastic by his staff - he personally eschewed credit cards. Instead, said Miss Lawson, he kept a 'huge stash' of cash in a 'plastic zippy freezer bag above the fridge'. Francesca Grillo, pictured left, arriving at court with her sister Elisabetta, told the court Mr Saatchi was a very demanding man to work for. She said he would demand iced frappuccinos, that buttons were sown on to his suits, as well as the house be cleaned and the couple's children cared for Saatchi, said Miss Lawson, added, did not enjoy family gatherings, and was also bemused as to why the Grillo girls both wanted to be off at the end of December until she "explained to him that it was Christmas." Nigella, I was sent these by a newspaper, and I could only laugh at your sorry depravity. Of course, now the Grillos will get off on the basis that you and Mimi were so off your heads on drugs you allowed the sisters to spend whatever they liked. And yes, I believe every word the Grillos have said, who after all only stole money. You Higella, on the other hand, poisoned your child with drugs and trashed her life. But I am sure it was all good fun and now everything is perfect. Bravo, you have become a celebrity hostess on a global TV gameshow. And you got the pass you desired free to heartily enjoy all the drugs you want forever. Classy! They did have dinner parties - every fortnight, said Francesca Grillo, although Nigella said it was more like once every two years - with guests including Woody Allen, and 'quite big lunches'. 'Nigella likes to have working lunches at home,' said Francesca. It was Francesca's job to prepare for and clear up after these dinner parties, often working into the night with instructions from Mr Saatchi arriving as late as 11.45pm. Miss Lawson balked when she was described as the 'lady of the house' in court and insisted that domestic commitments were hers and Mr Saatchi's responsibility. Her eyes flashing, Nigella said: 'Excuse me? I don't think it's the job of a woman to run the house. I think it's the job of whoever lives in the house to take charge. 'It was both Mr Saatchi's and my job.' But the TV cook found her husband's temper increasingly hard to take. She confided several times in her aides and her children that she was planning to leave him, once telling Elisabetta: "I can't take this any more." It was in response to his 'bullying' - and, according to Miss Lawson, to what she described as Saatchi's 'intimate terrorism' - that the TV cook told the court that resorted in 2010 to snorting cocaine. She also admitted smoking cannabis in front of her children in the final days of her marriage. But the end finally came after pictures were published around the world in June of an episode in Mr Saatchi's favourite restaurant, Scott's in Mayfair. They showed the couple engaged in an argument - him grabbing her throat, her in tears. Whether the argument was about drugs - as the Grillo sisters claimed, and as Miss Lawson said Mr Saatchi had been telling people - or about her desire for grandchildren, as she claimed, it was the final straw. He filed for divorce just a few weeks later, a move that according to her led the art dealer to subject her to 'a long summer of bullying and abuse'. In October, in his rage, the £100million former ad man sent a 'nasty' email to his ex-wife. Read to the court, it branded her 'Higella' and accused her of being off her head on drugs for ten years. He signed off by saying 'And you got the pass you desired free to heartily enjoy all the drugs you want forever. But by the time of the trial he regretted sending that email. He was, he told the court, devastated to have lost Miss Lawson. I am utterly heartbroken,' he said. I wish the last year had never happened. Mr Saatchi told the jury he regretted ever sending it. I was just being nasty,' he said. This is not a very pleasant email but I was very, very upset. But Miss Lawson told the jury she believed her ex-husband was using the trial to tarnish her name. He said to me that if I didn't go back to him and clear his name he would destroy me - and also started spreading false allegations of drug use, and in particular that awful incident at Scott's. I feel his way of getting this out was to use this case. She added: "Drug allegations came out in September which indirectly Mr Saatchi had menaced me with in August, and I just said, "What drug allegations? There aren't going to be any. These allegations appeared in a PR blog that had been dedicated to salvaging Mr Saatchi's reputation and savaging mine. ' She said the reference in the email to her getting a 'pass' was a reference to her having been 'punished' by him for going to a birthday party. I hasten to say I don't mean that I was beaten, rather an emotional abuse. It was very wounding and very difficult, and of course we know how things accelerated. He also threated to sue her for some half a million pounds when she threatened not to give evidence against the Grillos, she said. It was really just another form of bullying, and making me pay money for legal help. I feel that part of this campaign is to ruin me in whatever way, and if that is financial so be it. He threatens law very often, I've seen this in action. I think he likes everyone to do what he wants. "It would be, "Get her - I don't care how much it costs, I don't care what it takes." I'm afraid that is how it is now. He feels betrayed by me. Miss Lawson said: "That marriage was very difficult in very many stages. It was also deeply happy at some stages. This is sometimes the nature of marriages. But this perhaps was doomed.