Nigella Lawson

Nigella Lawson is an English food writer, television cook and author known for her bestselling cookbooks and television series, including Nigella Bites and Nigella Express. She is the daughter of politician Nigel Lawson. Lawson attended Godolphin and Latymer School before studying medieval and modern languages at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford.

After graduating from Oxford, Lawson worked as a book reviewer and restaurant critic before becoming deputy literary editor of The Sunday Times in 1986. She later pursued freelance journalism, writing for publications including The Guardian, The Times and Vogue. Her first cookbook, How to Eat, was published in 1998 and became a bestseller, launching her career as a food writer and television personality.

Lawson followed with How to Be a Domestic Goddess in 2000, which earned her the 2001 British Book Award for Author of the Year. Other notable books include Feast (2004), Nigella Express (2007), Nigella Christmas (2008) and Simply Nigella (2015). Her television credits include Nigella Bites, Forever Summer, Nigella Feasts and Nigella’s Christmas Kitchen. In 2026, she joined The Great British Bake Off as a judge.

Lawson married journalist John Diamond in 1992. They had two children, Cosima (born in 1994) and Bruno (born in 1996), before Diamond died from throat cancer in 2001. She married art collector Charles Saatchi in 2003 and they divorced in 2013.