Nigella Lawson is Vogue UK's latest cover star. Potentially keen to avoid the same sort of flack the US edition got for featuring an airbrushed Lena Dunham in their February issue, Vogue UK was keen to point out that, yes, the photos of Nigella had been retouched, but only a little bit: ‘Miss Lawson received a little retouching as we do with all cover images. Oddly, given that she is a woman in her fifties, less than some people decades younger.’ There goes any bizarre bids to uncover the un-retouched images.
The cover makes sense for many reasons – Nigella has become nationally adored ever since she stood up to ex-husband Charles Saatchi during the trial of their former assistants, the Grillo sisters. He had previously been caught on camera with his hands around Nigella's throat outside Scott's, his favourite west London restaurant, and later alleged in court that she had a cocaine problem, nicknaming her Highgella.
The class with which Nigella handled the debacle is just one reason for her to make a perfect Vogue cover star. The other is – duh – she is totally beautiful.
But she prefers not to talk about that, because she's worried she won't live up to our lofty expectations: 'I was terrified of being photographed without make-up, and I hate having my looks talked up. It always makes me feel I’m going to be a disappointment in the flesh,' she's said.
The journalist-turned-TV chef and judge of The Taste, which hasn't really captured the UK's hearts as hoped, says she's looking for the next challenge in her career: ‘I love what I do, but there are other parts of my brain that I haven’t flexed in a professional way,' she says. ‘I do sometimes think I’ve let the more analytical part of my brain slump slightly. I do like writing about food, but there’s so much that interests me.' So, what next? ‘I’ve been working – in a cottage-industry way – on an app, which, if it works, could be deeply thrilling.’
No clues as to what this app could be, but we're guessing it's got very little to do with food. Now that she's single, could this be the time for her to take Tinder to the older generation? Or is it something a lot less sexy, like Citymapper, but for places to buy dark wrap-around dresses and sun-dried tomatoes all at the same time? Only time will tell...
Follow Sophie on Twitter @sophwilkinson
Pictures: Nathaniel Goldberg/VOGUE
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.