Brittany Higgins: Nigella Lawson jumps to the defence of Lisa Wilkinson

A famous British chef has leaped to the defence of embattled TV presenter Lisa Wilkinson as she faces scrutiny for her role in the Brittany Higgins saga.

Nigella Lawson, who is friends with Wilkinson and her husband Peter FitzSimons, on Tuesday tweeted her support for the journalist, labelling the criticism of her ‘appalling’.

‘I’m appalled and disgusted. Lisa Wilkinson is the very best of people,’ she wrote. 

Her Twitter spray was in response to another tweet from Mike Carlton – also a good mate of Wilkinson and FitzSimons – taking aim at a front-page story in The Australian.

That article reported how Higgins was angry with Wilkinson for planning on doing a follow-up story for The Project using unaired footage from the pair’s interview five days earlier.

During their initial interview, which aired on February 15, 2021, Higgins claimed to Wilkinson she’d been raped by an unnamed colleague in a minister’s office at Parliament House in March 2019.

The co-worker was later identified as Bruce Lehrmann, who has always denied the claims. A criminal trial was aborted last October due to juror misconduct.

Lawson, who is friends with Wilkinson and her husband Peter FitzSimons, on Tuesday tweeted her support for the journalist, labelling the criticism of her ‘appalling’ and ‘disgusting’

Higgins apparently did not want footage from the sit-down to be used in subsequent broadcasts and sent Wilkinson a letter saying she was ‘disturbed’ and ‘disappointed’.

It comes as Wilkinson’s role in publicising Higgins’ explosive accusations in the lead-up to the federal election faces growing scrutiny.

In a leaked audio recording from two weeks before her Sunday Project interview with Higgins aired, the two discussed the possibility of ‘friendly MPs’ Tanya Plibersek and Anthony Albanese bringing up the alleged sexual assault at Question Time in order to put pressure on the Coalition Government.

The day after the interview aired, the duo asked five questions between them of then-prime minister Scott Morrison.

Her Twitter spray was in response to another tweet from Mike Carlton (pictured), also a good mate of Wilkinson and FitzSimons, taking aim at a front-page story in The Australian that reported on a rift between Wilkinson and Higgins over the use of interview footage

Carlton called out The Australian’s apparent ‘obsession’ with Wilkinson

It comes as Wilkinson’s (right) role in publicising Higgins’ (left) explosive rape accusations in the lead-up to the federal election faces growing scrutiny

Wilkinson on Tuesday denied approaching Labor politicians to raise questions about Higgins’ allegations of sexual abuse in parliament.

Wilkinson’s friendship with Nigella Lawson – a celebrity chef and food writer known for her signature ‘saucy’ style of TV presenting – is well-documented.

Lawson appeared as a guest on The Project several times during Wilkinson’s tenure, and the two even filmed a cooking video at Wilkinson’s home for the now-defunct HuffPost Australia.

The Nigella Bites host was a guest at Wilkinson and FitzSimons’ star-studded election night party in May 2022 where they celebrated Mr Albanese’s victory. 

Wilkinson’s friendship with Nigella Lawson – a celebrity chef and food writer known for her signature ‘saucy’ style of TV presenting – is well-documented. The two once filmed a cooking video at Wilkinson’s home for the now-defunct HuffPost Australia (seen here)