Nigella Lawson has said she is "not proud" of her past drug use after admitting she has occasionally taken cocaine and cannabis. The celebrity chef said she would rather be "honest and ashamed" than "bullied with lies".
She said no-one relished the spotlight being put on their mistakes, and denied her admission was "damage limitation".
She was in court for a second day as a witness in the trial of two former personal assistants, Elisabetta, also referred to as Lisa, and Francesca Grillo, who are accused of spending more than stg£685,000 on credit cards loaned to them by Ms. Lawson and Mr. Saatchi.
The Italian sisters - who prosecutors claim lived the "high life", spending the money on designer clothes and handbags from Louis Vuitton, Christian Dior and Vivienne Westwood - deny committing fraud by abusing their positions for personal gain.
Ms. Lawson (53) told Isleworth Crown Court in London on Thursday "I'm not proud of the fact I have taken drugs but that does not make me a drug addict or a habitual drug user. Up until yesterday, I've never spoken about anything that has happened these past months because I wanted to keep my private life, private".
Ms. Lawson said she objected to stories "peddled" by her ex-husband Charles Saatchi, including that he was checking her nose for cocaine when he was photographed gripping her throat outside Scott's restaurant.
She told the court: He grabbed me by the throat and said 'I'm the only person you should be concerned with'
"Mr. Saatchi was not examining me for cocaine. That's a story he made up afterwards to clear his name," she said. She denied lying to police when she disputed the drug allegations against her and said it was the "extent" of her drug use that was untrue.
"It was not true in that my ex-husband was saying that he was getting cocaine out of my nose at Scott's and that I had been completely off my head for 10 years," she said.
"I actually did say at the time it was the extent that was not true."
Being questioned by Karina Arden, defending Francesca, Ms. Lawson denied using her evidence to explain herself in front of "the world's press".
"I felt it was my duty to come," she said. "I certainly felt it would be an unpleasant experience but that's not a good enough reason not to do one's duty".
On Wednesday, she told the court of the "intimate terrorism" she claimed to have suffered at the hands of Mr. Saatchi.
She spoke for the first time about the much-publicised incident at the central London eaterie which she claimed was triggered by a comment she made about a passer-by with a baby.
"I said 'I'm so looking forward to having grandchildren'," Ms. Lawson told the court. "He grabbed me by the throat and said 'I'm the only person you should be concerned with'".
She said she first took the class-A drug with her late husband John Diamond when he found out he had terminal cancer, and on another occasion later during her troubled marriage to Mr. Saatchi.
Ms. Lawson said she "became involved" with Mr. Saatchi after Mr. Diamond died.
"It would be fair to say that not very long after my first husband died I began to become involved with Mr. Saatchi," she said.
Sky News reporter Nick Pisa spoke to Lunchtime here on Newstalk about today's proceedings.
