Off the menu NIGELLA'S WASTING AWAY

The popular TV chef appears to have no taste for fame like she used to

- Alison Boshoff

Once the thinking man’s bombshell, all dangerous curves and joyous wiggle, Nigella Lawson is a slender shadow of her former self. Not that the new slimline Nigella is in the public eye that much. Having just celebrated her landmark 60th birthday, she has all but dropped from view.

During the initial freedom years after her distressing split from second husband Charles Saatchi in 2013, you would see her at parties in London, hopping in and out of taxis and dining with literary friends such as Salman Rushdie. But, sadly, no more.

Christmas this year was spent in Cornwall with old friend and former Vogue magazine-executive Fiona Golfar and her family before returning to her house in London for a quiet New Year’s Eve.

There hasn’t been a new book or television show since 2017. So, although Nigella once said that she needed to do a show “every other year” to keep her head above water financially, she has opted to take a break instead.

Last year, she launched a food photography app, Foodim, and posts regularly on Instagram – where she has 1.8 million followers – but there has been nothing else new of late.

Lucrative endorsements, such as plugging Typhoo tea, have been allowed to lapse, while Kiwi chocolate company Whittaker’s “can’t confirm any details around our future campaigns”. Kiera O’Brien, The Bookseller’s charts and data editor, said, “She is still a big name, however, she is obviously selling an awful lot less than she used to.”

In 2018, the domestic goddess concentrated on the relaunch of all her books, publicising them with some “Audience With” shows in London and Auckland. But Nigella has always claimed she is “shy”’ deep down and that her coquettish screen manner is her trying to cover it up and gain the courage to perform.