Despite a slew of TV appearances, cookbooks, world tours and more, Nigella Lawson insists she’s an indolent person at heart. Sue Smethurst sits down with the most recognisable face in home cookery to crack the secret to her seemingly effortless success.
Nigella Lawson sashays across the room in a flowing summery print dress and kisses me on both cheeks, clasping my gardenroughened hands in her own perfectly manicured ones.
“Would you like tea?” she asks while beckoning me to sit.
It may be the first time I’ve met the queen of British home cookery, but it feels like we’re old pals because Nigella has been a part of my – and millions of others’ – lives forever.
More mere kitchen mortals than you could count have attempted her famed chocolate Malteser cake, or triumphantly mastered her roast chicken. Over 10 million dog-eared copies of her iconic cookbooks sit on kitchen benches around the world. And we regularly welcome her into our homes on the countless television shows she fronts. The former journalist and book reviewer, who has built a $40 million empire on mastering the art of effortless charm, is now one of the most recognisable women in the world.
Surprisingly, the 59-year-old is more beautiful and disarmingly charming in real life than on screen. Her porcelain skin is luminous and her thick arched eyebrows have been shaped with impossible precision. The Nigella recipe is part Sophia Loren, part Jane Fonda’s Barbarella, with a surprising sprinkling of self-deprecating humour. The result is definitely more goddess than domestic.
“There’s no difference between who I am publicly and privately, but I’m quite lazy,” she says when I ask if there’s a secret flaw in all of this bowl-licking lusciousness. “I’ve always had a theory that lazy people work harder because you have to drive yourself to get things done.”
This story is from the May 2019 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the May 2019 edition of The Australian Women's Weekly.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 8,500+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Where to go in 2024
Who doesn't love fantasising about their next trip? We've gone for lesser-known locations, and whether you're seeking bright lights, striking natural scenery, serenity or excitement, here's where you're sure to find it.
Money matters with Effie
Didn’t reach your financial goals in 2023? While a new year won’t wipe away pressures like rising costs, there are a few things you can do now to refresh your money mojo in 2024.
Bright stars in a rugged land
The hot, dusty opal fields around Lightning Ridge in outback NSW have traditionally been a man's world. Now The Weekly meets the women who have been struck by opal fever.
The gift of life
Maureen Elliott had just months to live when she went on St Vincent's Hospital's transplant list. Thirty years on she's one of the longest living heart-lung transplant recipients in the world.
An uncaged heart
After more than two years in Iranian jails, Kylie Moore-Gilbert has forged a new life that's brimming with love, and a determination to help others who have been wrongfully imprisoned.
The woman behind The King
As Sofia Coppola's biopic Priscilla readies to hit screens, we look back at the early life and great love of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley.
Say hello to the Cockatoo cake
When we put a call-out to our readers for their best children's cakes we were inundated with recipes, and this clever cockatoo was ahead of the flock.
The French revolution
Dawn French quit her sketch show because she felt so ugly. Now the \"roly-poly comedian\" wants us all to stop fretting about our faults. She talks body image, surviving the 1980s and owning her mistakes.
Trump's women
Will it be the jailhouse or the White House for Donald Trump this year? The women in his life could make all the difference.
Can you buy a good night's sleep?
Forty per cent of Australians have trouble sleeping, and the market has responded with a mind-boggling array of sleep aids. But do any of them actually work? The Weekly goes in search of slumber.
