Nigella Lawson 'Won Hearts Of British Public' In Legal Battle, Grillo Sisters Say

We Won Legal Battle But Nigella 'Won Hearts Of Public'
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File photo dated 24/10/12 of Nigella Lawson is expected to give evidence at the trial of two of her former personal assistants at Isleworth Crown Court in west London.
Yui Mok/PA Wire

The former personal assistants to Nigella Lawson have said despite winning their legal battle the TV chef won the hearts of the British public.

In an interview ITV This Morning, Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, said they wished Nigella "all the best".

"We have won the court case but definitely she had the most support from the public. She is well loved and she will always be loved and I am sure she will be fine," Francesca Grillo, 35, told the programme.

"She is great at what she is doing and I wish her all the best."

The two sisters were acquitted last month on charges of fraudulently using company credit cards, spending hundreds of thousands of pounds on designer goods for themselves, while working as personal assistants to Lawson and her ex-husband Charles Saatchi.

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The Grillo sisters were acquitted of fraud

But the Italian sisters claimed every purchase had been approved by their then-bosses and were found not guilty after jurors at Isleworth Crown Court in west London deliberated for nine hours.

The TV cook whose series The Taste starts tonight on Channel 4 tonight said last week that her "only desire" during the trial had been to protect her children but "alas I couldn't always do".

The mother-of-two appeared on US TV show Good Morning America to promote her new show but was also asked about the court case, which saw her face allegations of drug-taking.

Asked what it was like to be a witness in the trial, Lawson told the programme: "I can't really remember exactly because you're so focused on answering the questions to the best of your ability that actually you don't really have an enormous awareness of yourself.

"Maybe that's a good thing. My only desire really was to protect my children as much as possible which... alas I couldn't always do."

Ms Lawson added that having details of her acrimonious split from millionaire art dealer Mr Saatchi talked about in court under the glare of the world's media was "mortifying".

"To have not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying, but there are people going through an awful lot worse and to dwell on any of it would be self pity and I don't like to do that," she said.

But she said that she was looking towards the future.

"Actually since then I've eaten a lot of chocolate, had a very good Christmas and am into the New Year," the food writer added.

Lawson admitted during the trial that she took cocaine with her late husband John Diamond when he found out he had terminal cancer, and in 2010 when she claimed she was being ''subjected to intimate terrorism" by Mr Saatchi.

Police are to review her admission that she took the class A drug.

The self-styled "domestic goddess" was appearing on the breakfast show to talk about The Taste, which is also being broadcast in the UK on Channel 4 and has been described as MasterChef meets The Voice.