" Tall Poppy " Syndrome !

The world has just been treated to an ongoing court case in London  which had similar drama to a script from " The Bold and the Beautiful " - or perhaps " Dynasty " !    The media exposed the private life of celebrity chef Nigella Lawson in a case which revenge, theft, character assassination and titillation of the masses all had a part.

Nigella Lawson (53) is a good looking woman who has a vast following as the presenter of her cooking show on television and is wealthy in her own right.  She was married to super rich advertising supremo Charles Saatchi and they lived in a $ 25 million townhouse in the better part of London.  Nigella Lawson employed two personal assistants to help run her television series and these featured in the court case as the " Grillo sisters " - Francesca (35) and Elisabetta ( 41 ).

This episode of human drama started when paparazzi managed to snap pictures of a heated argument between Nigella and her husband at a top end restaurant.  Saatchi appears to grab her by the throat, leading to speculation that the marriage was in trouble.

Rumour and innuendo morphed into a court case when the Grillo sisters were accused of using the credit cards with which they had been issued to make private purchases running into millions of dollars. They claimed that this was a personal arrangement with Nigella.  They were permitted to use these cards at their own discretion in return from hiding the fact that their boss used drugs - and she wished this to be kept from her husband.

That claim changed the entire direction of the court case into Nigella Lawson's drug history.  She freely admitted to occasional use of marijuana   and claimed that marriage stress had caused her to resort to cocaine on a limited number of occasions.   She was not addicted to drugs, but was a casual user - and an when circumstances permitted.

Strangely, the presiding judge allowed this court case to degenerate into a troll through the daily snacking habits of the celebrity chef, delving into the moods and idiosyncrasies of a high profile, highly stressed performer who was the darling of television audiences.   It seemed to grab media attention to learn that Nigella Lawson snacked on junk food occasionally - and indulged lavishly in chocolate.

Eventually, the case ended with the Grillo sisters being cleared of any wrongdoing.   They are now negotiating book rights to their story - and once again the public will probably salivate about fresh disclosures to whet their appetites for scandal.

As for Nigella - she will probably just continue to draw big audiences for her cooking show.  There was speculation that this " Tall Poppy " disclosure might tear down her popularity, but in this modern day and age the suggestion of drug use no longer raises eyebrows.

In fact, the publicity might make her shows more popular.   The loss of a few million dollars will hardly cause her or her ex husband any financial distress - and history shows that almost any kind of publicity can be turned into " good publicity " - with a stoic face and the right fine tuning.