Photos which appear to show Charles Saatchi grabbing his wife Nigella Lawson’s throat were the result of a “playful tiff”, the millionaire art collector has claimed.
He said he was holding the broadcaster and cook by the neck “to emphasise my point” as they discussed family.
Police are looking into the pictures, which Saatchi admitted looked “horrific”, taken outside a London restaurant last week and which have been widely publicised.
Lawson appears to be grimacing in the images taken outside Scott’s in Mayfair.
Saatchi, a former advertising executive who has built up a colossal private art collection which he displays at his own gallery, said: “About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella’s neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasise my point.
“There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella’s tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt.
“We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled.”
A spokesman for Scotland Yard said it was aware of the pictures and that no one had made any complaint to the police.
Lawson married Saatchi, who made his name in advertising, in 2003. She has two children, Cosima and Bruno, from her marriage to journalist John Diamond, who died of throat cancer in 2001.
Scotland Yard has not made any arrests and a spokesman said inquiries were going on to “establish the facts in order to assess whether an investigation is necessary”.