Nigella warns of Christmas pressure

2:08pm Wednesday 3rd December 2008

"Domestic goddess" Nigella Lawson has spoken about the huge pressure women are under at Christmas.

Lawson said it was an "extreme act of cruelty" to imply that the time of year could be stress-free.

In an interview with the Radio Times, she said it was "an incredibly high-pressure time for women.

"You have cooking combined with family, and together they're enormously incendiary.

"I think it would be an extreme act of cruelty to imply that you can have a stress-free Christmas.

"Because there's no such thing. Wrapping presents, for example, is the thing that sends me over the edge and under the other side. I always get my hair stuck under the Sellotape, which is completely disgusting for the person opening the present."

Speaking about the "domestic goddess" tag, Lawson said: "The argument has become so polarised...

"Either you're a bitch who spends too long in the office and never sees your children, or you're some little throwback wanting to make things nice in the kitchen.

"And, of course, in real life women are both. Or neither. You have to find a way of integrating those two sides of yourself. Otherwise you go mad."

The cook and journalist said she would "never say no to chips and curry sauce - I have very low tastes. Just that, a nice drink and some nice friends and I'd be happy."