Nigella : Well-Known TV Chef to undergo drug test to enter US

Nigella Lawson has been prevented from boarding a flight to the United States over her court confession that she took drugs, it has emerged.

The celebrity chef was stopped at the boarding gate as she went to take her seat on a flight from Heathrow to Los Angeles on Sunday, the Daily Mail reported.

A ban on travel to the US would place her television career — she is a judge on the talent show The Taste – in serious peril.

The Daily Mail said Lawson had arrived at Heathrow’s Terminal Five on Sunday to catch a flight to Los Angeles but after checking in and passing security she was told she could not board the plane.

It was unclear why Lawson was barred from the US given she has travelled there since her admission in December of cocaine use.

The US has strict immigration laws regarding those with convictions or who have been arrested but officials can also exclude those who have admitted to illegal acts even though they have not been punished by the law.

Lawson, known for the sensual manner in which she samples food, said she had used cocaine with her late husband John Diamond when he learned his cancer was terminal and later during a difficult time in her relationship with Saatchi.

The high-profile art dealer was photographed with one of his hands round Lawson’s throat before their divorce, while the mother-of-two accused him of “acts of intimate terrorism” during the trial of her personal assistants.

Agencies/Canadajournal