Cynical tactics: Charles Saatchi pictured with his daughter Phoebe Charles Saatchi cynically used his 18-year-old daughter Phoebe in a desperate bid to smear Nigella Lawson over her use of  illegal drugs, The Mail on Sunday can reveal today. The embittered advertising mogul encouraged his former wife Kay and their daughter to release a damning statement claiming that Ms Lawson had used drugs ‘regularly and heavily each night’ months before her use of cocaine and cannabis was revealed in court. An explosive document, which was endorsed by Phoebe and Kay, claims: Ms Lawson has strenuously denied these allegations. The fresh revelations come as Ms Lawson gives her first interview since her former housekeepers were found not guilty of a £685,000 credit card fraud.
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Art tycoon launched PR offensive after daughter told him wife used drugs
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Statement claimed Lawson had used drugs 'regularly and heavily each night'
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Came months before her use of cocaine and cannabis was revealed in court
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It alleged she used drugs for an hour after dinner and an hour before bed
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Also claimed staff would prepare two large joint a day for her to smoke while Saatchi was asleep
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Claims have been strenuously denied by Lawson today
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Nigella was a habitual user of drugs and would take them every night for ‘an hour after dinner, and another hour before bed’.
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Drug use became a ‘permanent feature’ of her lifestyle and alienated her from her stepdaughter, Phoebe, who refused to take part.
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She would ask staff to prepare large joints of strong cannabis for her to smoke while her husband was asleep.
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That she would cover up the effects of cannabis and other illegal drugs by telling Charles she had taken sleeping tablets.
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She also used scented candles to cover the smell and even installed an air fragrance system in her London home to keep her habit secret from her husband.
She adds: ‘[Nigella] tried to involve [my] daughter in this arrangement but she refused, but kept it quiet from her father and [me] until the furore about Nigella and @placeholder’ relationship.’