So a lot for the home goddess! ‘Lazy’ Nigella Lawson is rather like the remainder of us as she admits to consuming crisps in mattress, not often brushing her hair and never being ‘tremendous hygienic’

She’s widely regarded as one of the most beautiful, demure cooks in the industry, who produces and prepares equally perfect recipes.

However, London-born food writer and television cook, Nigella Lawson, 65, has insisted she is the antithesis of a domestic goddess, considering herself ‘lazy’ when it comes to making an effort with her appearance.

‘I don’t get the whole sexy thing. Often I am not wearing makeup at all,’ Nigella told the Salon Confidential podcast with stylist Andreas Wild.

‘If I’ve done my own hair, I don’t brush it, I mess it up. Instead of brushing it, I tip my head upside down. I do try to do it sometimes, but I’m incredibly lazy. If people recognise me, I’m astonished.’

Nigella also said she’s ‘not super hygienic’, especially when it comes to the upkeep of the cleanliness of her fridge, and can often step outside of her home looking like a ‘fright’.

She also admitted there is a huge downside to her job when it comes to her aesthetic, pointing out burn marks on her arms. ‘I am very clumsy. I mean, look, I mean, the amount of burns.’

It’s might be hard to believe that a woman renowned for her flirtatious culinary style can have such a different perception of herself compared to how the world looks on at her.

However, there are hints that the Oxford-graduate is actually a sloth behind the scenes, snacking on crisps instead of plates of fresh produce, posting candid images of herself on socials, and quickly heating up food in the microwave, or micro-wa-vay.

Nigella’s first cookbook came out when she was 38, and she didn’t appear on the small screen until she turned 40.

She revealed why the ball started rolling a little later than usual in conversation with The Weekend Australian Weekend in 2018: ‘When I was a young woman I wouldn’t do TV, because I didn’t want that thing where attention is paid to one’s physical being’.

The celebrity chef’s debut series aired on the BBC in 1999, and she has since been at the helm of a dozen top-rated shows.

Despite her onscreen reputation, Nigella has always claimed that she never set out to sexualise her shows with her trademark innuendos.

The star revisited the topic on the recent podcast, explaining that her sexy reputation resulted from editing by production companies.

‘I never ever wanted to be on TV I’m not a performer,’ she said when probed on the topic on the podcast.

‘When that first series came out, I was astonished to be told I was suggestive and coquettish and so forth because the reality is I’m a straightforward person.

‘I haven’t got a coquettish manner, so I want to say two things… One is television is glamorising, so they always make you look nicer than you look.’

Indeed, Nigella has put on a series of laid-back displays throughout the years, indicating her proactive displays on television may well be nothing more than savvy editing.

Following her divorce from Charles Saatchi in 2013, Nigella didn’t care to put on a show for the paparazzi and stepped out with an eye mask on and messy hair.

Wearing an all-black outfit, with her hair looking decidedly tousled, the then-53-year-old star climbed into a waiting car along with an assistant.

The appearance marked the first time Nigella was seen in London after it emerged that her former husband had been on a string of dates with makeup mogul Trinny Woodall.

Then, in 2016, Nigella powered along the streets of London while doing her Christmas shopping in a low-key, regular outfit.

Despite the thousands of shoppers who would no doubt catch a glimpse of her while she was out-and-about in London, Nigella skipped makeup and opted to don a regular puffer coat and Nike trainers.

One year on in 2017, Nigella once again revealed her no fuss approach to aesthetics when she stepped out in London makeup-free while attending a business meeting in the UK’s capital.

Nigella ditched her saucy style for a plain black ensemble ahead of the release of tenth cookbook, At My Table.

Her approach has continued in recent times, and last year, Nigella displayed her natural hair before using styling products on Instagram.

The TV chef discussed her favourite styling products on the social media platform, but later decided to then show her followers her natural style.

To ‘redress the balance’, the star shared an image of herself with untidy tousled locks and joked that she often ‘looks a complete mess’ when she is not filming.

She wrote on Instagram: ‘Ever since I posted about my hair, hair products and styling yesterday, I’ve been rather worried about having to live up to it, since mostly I do nothing and go out looking a complete mess.

‘So, I thought I’d redress the balance by posting a photo of what my hair more usually looks like!

‘Though it does make me realise why I thought I had to learn how to improve matters…

‘And, by the way, I went back to my Sunday post and added a shortlist of some of my favourite products mentioned in the piece that I rely on to help me look rather less like the first Mrs Rochester!’ 

The 65-year-old was enjoying time on holiday in an exotic location in the unearthed snap.

It’s not just her appearance either, Nigella has repeatedly made comments about her lax approach to eating when not working.

Fans praised her in 2019 after she admitted to following up on an evening of fine dining at a London restaurant by eating a bag of pickled onion Monster Munch in bed.

The chef revealed to fans on X that, despite indulging in Oysters, black pudding, and venison at the award-winning Noble Rot Wine Bar & Restaurant, she couldn’t resist her favourite bedtime snack.

Friends and fans praised the cooking expert, with one claiming he would ‘follow her through the gates of hell’, while another hailed the snack the ‘undisputed bedtime champion’.

She wrote: ‘I have never eaten (or drunk) badly at @noblerotbar. Oysters, raw ceps with Parmesan, black pudding with prunes, and venison with pickled blackberries: night of total joy.’

However, she then added: ‘That’s not to say I’m not now lying in bed eating a packet of Monster Munch (pickled onion flavour) but hey, who dares to resent us our pleasures.’

Her love of crisps doesn’t stop there, and in 2020, fans praised her once again for serving a cauldron full of crisps during England’s nail-biting final against Italy in the Euro final.

Inspiring hundreds of others, many posted snaps of their own versions, joking it was their ‘favourite Nigella recipe to date’.

The cauldron, which she described as ‘half-time snackage’ contained dozens of salty treats, including Twiglets, ready salted Walkers crisps, salt and vinegar Quavers, cheesy Wotsits, pork scratchings and even Guinness-flavoured snacks.

And though she’s famed for selling millions of books teaching people around the world how to host guests, in 2023, she revealed she is no longer hosting dinner parties, instead preferring guests to come over for Twiglets in their pyjamas.

The TV cook revealed she has ‘got out of the habit’ of hosting elaborate soirees and believes that a lot of the prep is ‘too much fuss’.

‘I’ll have a person or a couple of people over quite often and I keep planning to have people round in a proper, grown-up way but I haven’t yet. I must! I feel a bit guilty because people have had me for dinner and I haven’t had them back,’ she told The Times.

Nigella added that she served the Marmite-flavoured snack Twiglets to American guests because she felt it was her ‘duty to introduce them’ to the British bites.

‘I’m very happy for a friend to come over in their pyjamas to have supper,’ she added, explaining that formality turns her off.

Despite dozens of books with many recipes, Nigella said that peeling and chopping onions is ‘too much work’ and she prefers ‘using spring onions instead’ because it is ‘less faff’.

She added that cooking for strangers makes her nervous, and that on the rare occasion she has people over she serves them ‘buffet style’ on long narrow tables.