Dave M. Benett/Getty ImagesCharles Saatchi is calling it quits with celebrity chef Nigella Lawson.
"I am sorry to announce that Nigella Lawson and I are getting divorced," the 70-year-old art collector and ad agency cofounder said in a statement to The Mail newspaper in the UK.
Saatchi goes on to explain that the split comes from his disappointment in Lawson's failure to publicly defend him following the alleged choking incident in London last month.
"I feel that I have clearly been a disappointment to Nigella during the last year or so, and I am disappointed that she was advised to make no public comment to explain that I abhor violence of any kind against women, and have never abused her physically in any way."
Lawson has yet to comment on the announcement.
Saatchi was being investigated after allegedly choking Lawson during a lunch date at their favorite London restaurant, Scott's. Saatchi reportedly grabbed his wife's throat repeatedly before she left the eatery in tears.
Saatchi told the Evening Standard that although he and Lawson had fought on the day of the incident, his throat grabbing was only a "playful tiff" and that the couple "made up" by the time they got home that day.
However, later that same day, a rep for Lawson confirmed to E! News that she had "left the house" she shared with Saatchi.
On the afternoon of Jun. 17, Saatchi was slapped with a caution for assault after voluntarily meeting with officials at a police station in central London. Cautions are not criminal convictions, but they are issued after a person admits an offense and agrees to a warning.
The couple was spotted dining together at the scene of the public fight less than a week later. But soon after Lawson was photographed without her wedding ring near her sister's London home.
Saatchi and Lawson married in 2003.