Nigella Lawson recipes are not the reason why the top English celebrity chef is in the news. The self proclaimed gourmand's latest claim to fame is the court case against her domestic helps who embezzled $1.3 million from her household.

In the latest turn of events, the sisters Francesca and Elisabetta Grillo said in their defense that their mistress Nigella Lawson has drug problem and this was the amount she paid them to guard her secret.

On her part, Lawson testified to the charges of taking drugs, adding that she did them only on six occasions in her life between 1999 and 2010. 

She first took drugs when her former husband John Diamond was diagnosed with cancer and was fighting against the disease. Later, the troubled marriage with Charles Saatchi forced her to find refuge in drugs.

'"I was having a very, very difficult time I felt subjected to acts of intimate terrorism," said the 53 year old Lawson.

She also added that she was not an addict and did not face any kind of drug problem. "I've never been a drug addict, I've never been an habitual user. ... I did not have a drug problem, I had a life problem."

In her defense, Nigella Lawson of Nigella Feasts, also said that people who do drugs on daily basis are 'a lot thinner than I am,' adding that once she began to sort out her life, she sought the help of a therapist to go off drugs.

Earlier, Saatchi had in an email alleged that Lawson was drugs and that assistants would get scot-free. 

Last Friday, however, Saatchi backed out of his drug-claim against Lawson when he was called to testify in person. He declared that he had never seen Nigella take drugs during the time they were together.