Nigella Lawson Turns to Chocolate to Cope with 'Mortifying' Trial and Divorce

TV Watch

By Sheila Cosgrove Baylis

01/02/2014 at 03:00 PM EST

Amy Robach and Nigella Lawson on Good Morning America

Heidi Gutman/ABC

Nigella Lawson may have admitted to using drugs in the past, but she said that chocolate has been her substance of choice for getting through the stress of a fraud trial against two of her former personal assistants.

"My only desire was to protect my children as much as possible, which wasn't always possible. Since then I've eaten a lot of chocolate, had a very good Christmas, and now I'm into the new year," The Taste judge, 53, said Thursday on Good Morning America .

The celebrity chef further confessed that the trial and her divorce from media mogul Charles Saatchi were humiliating experiences, but said she stops short of self-pity.

"To not only have your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying. But there are people going through a lot worse, and to dwell in any of it would be self-pity, and I don't like to do that," she said.

Lawson's former assistants were acquitted of fraud charges that claimed they racked up more than $1 million in personal expenses on Saatchi's company credit card without permission.

The second season of The Taste premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. on ABC.