Nigella invited to apply for US visa

TV cook Nigella Lawson has been invited to apply for a visa to travel to America just days after she was stopped from flying to Los Angeles.

The 54-year-old celebrity was prevented from boarding a flight at Heathrow on Sunday, apparently as a result of comments she made about taking drugs while giving evidence during an unrelated court case.

But the US embassy in London said today she had now been invited to apply for a visa and promised the matter could be “handled routinely and expeditiously”.

At the trial of her and ex-husband Charles Saatchi’s personal assistants the self-styled “domestic goddess” admitted taking cocaine.

The mother-of-two told jurors she took the class A drug twice – once with her late husband John Diamond when he found out he had terminal cancer and again in 2010 when she claimed she was being ”subjected to intimate terrorism” by Mr Saatchi.

But she told the court: “I have never been a drug addict. I’ve never been a habitual user.”

A spokeswoman for the US Embassy said: “There are several ways of legally travelling into the United States and Ms Lawson has been invited to come to the Embassy and apply for a visa for travel to the US.

“We understand she has professional requirements for US travel and these matters are generally handled routinely and expeditiously, so stand by.”

The spokeswoman said the embassy was unable to comment on the reasons that someone might be turned away.