To be fair, no one looks at their radiant best after a transatlantic flight.

And so those new pictures of Nigella Lawson, in which she looks pale, swollen and not quite the Nefertiti beauty we would recognise from her publicity shots, may simply be a familiar story of a tiring night, crossing time zones without enough sleep or water.

Nevertheless, she does appear very changed. And perhaps inevitably yesterday, on message boards across the globe, her looks were a matter of earnest debate. The use of Botox and fillers, which can combine to give a frozen and puffy appearance, was widely suspected — and indeed in many places asserted as fact.

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Nigella pictured on The Taste in 2013 (left) and this year looking almost unrecognisable (right) this week with a much fuller face

‘More filler than a Lidl sausage,’ posted one person. Another said: ‘The curse of pillow face strikes again!’

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One brave soul ventured to ask Nigella directly on Twitter: ‘What have you done to your gorgeous face?’

The Domestic Goddess’s reply? ‘Nothing! Damage caused by long-haul flight!’

Now, it is true that she has suffered in the past from a puffy face. Last year she was pictured getting into her car wearing a de-puffing white cotton pad under each eye — hardly the most flattering look.

It is also known that Nigella has a high-maintenance beauty regime — facials, silk pillows, fancy creams and the rest — which allows her often to pass for a woman two decades younger.

Nigella appearing at court after her former assistants the Grillo sisters were charged with fraud

And the fact is that it is vital for her to look her very best right now. For she is planning to make a comeback in the UK after the success of her U.S. TV show and plans for a book and a TV series here are already well-advanced.

In the next few months she will deliver a manuscript to publisher Chatto & Windus. When the book, Simply Nigella, comes out and she is back on British television, she will be able to tell if the scandals of 2013 have dented her image.

This, then, is a testing time for Nigella. There is a sense that she will face a moment of truth around the corner.

Most TV and publishing executives believe she has emerged from her shattering divorce from art collector Charles Saatchi and the trial for fraud of her former assistants, the Grillo sisters, even more beloved than ever.

Team Nigella has many supporters, ranging from her close friends actor Stephen Fry, author Salman Rushdie, heiress Jemima Khan and broadcaster Maria McErlane, to a wider fan base including David Cameron, who was famously reprimanded by the judge when he declaring that he was on her side during the Grillos’ trial.

People close to Nigella say she is ‘very calm’ on the subject of whether she can still make a go of her career, and exhibits not a trace of nerves on the subject.

‘She said she can’t understand the fuss,’ said a confidant.

She is, though, skittish about her looks and ageing. Posing for the cover of Vogue magazine last March, she admitted being ‘terrified’ of being pictured without make-up. ‘I hate having my looks talked up,’ she added. ‘It always makes me feel I’m going to be a disappointment in the flesh.’

As well as the appearance of her face seeming to change, Nigella's weight has fluctuated over the years that she has been in the public eye

She was wrong, of course — she looked gorgeous in Vogue and the magazine claimed only a light touch of the airbrush had been needed.

In real life, though, Nigella’s hair is often less kempt than one might expect — she washes it only once a week.

As far as skincare goes, she likes Vaishaly Patel facial massage and products. And Botox? She denies it had anything to do with her appearance this week.

In addition, Nigella, whose weight famously yo-yos, sees a personal trainer in London who also trains Elle Macpherson.

This would be a very normal beauty regime for a 54-year-old woman in the public eye. Nigella understands that her famous looks are part of her appeal.

The TV cook is savvy enough to know that her looks play a large part in her success

If she wants to continue to sell books and make TV shows, she has to attend to her image — and she has no intention of retiring. Although she is said to be worth £15 million, some of her accounts show a surprisingly modest income. Figures from Nielsen Bookscan — which analyses publishing sales — show that her income from physical books this year is small — at least by the standards of a woman who, it was revealed at the Grillos’ trial, lived in a house where £25,000 was spent on flowers in 18 months.

Her books in print — including those reissued this spring in new jackets as the ‘Nigella Collection’ — have notched up £170,000 in sales. She might expect to get 60 per cent of this, which is around £100,000, on which, of course, she will have to pay tax.

That doesn’t amount to much if you live a life as expensive as Nigella’s, with a team of staff and daily visits to the best fishmonger and greengrocer in Chelsea.

She makes more money — estimated to be ‘at least’ £500,000 a year — from sales of her Nigella’s Kitchen homewares, e-book sales and her recipe app.

Her TV production company, Pabulum Productions, is in rude health, with assets of nearly £3 million. Its latest accounts, showing the year to August 2013, reveal pre-tax profits of £498,000.

So Nigella has plenty to smile about, and it is clear she is loving life without her famously controlling ex-spouse. Free from Charles Saatchi, she is going out to dinner parties and other events. She was spotted at a performance in LA given by burlesque dancer Dita Von Teese — and afterwards posed for a picture with Von Teese. She posted it on Twitter, saying: ‘Difficult to have your picture taken next to the most exquisite creature on earth.’

Broadcaster Maria McErlane and documentary-maker Olivia Lichtenstein are her two main stalwarts, and her TV producer sister Horatia is also in her inner circle.

Perhaps significantly, there is a growing coterie of male admirers, too, all of whom worship at the altar of Nigella.

Salman Rushdie, who has taken her out for dinner in London, has adored her for more than a decade, but their relationship has always been platonic.

Nigella Lawson with burlesque artist Dita Von Teese who she described as 'the most exquisite creature on earth'

Then there is the life coach John Whittington, whom friends say she ‘couldn’t do without’.

During the trial of the Grillo sisters in December, it was revealed that he gave Nigella therapy and was also engaged to help her staff — the so-called Team Cupcake — to work through their problems.

Whittington, a tall, handsome man, lives with his business partner Loretta Roy — again there is no question of a romantic liaison. Instead, he is coaching Nigella, perennially anxious, about confidence in her personal and professional relationships.

The final key ‘knight’ for Nigella is TV cook Anthony Bourdain, her co-host on U.S. television. He is enormously loyal to her, as he has made clear to their bosses at ABC who have had their doubts.

Nigella has emerged stronger from her trials and tribulations over the past year, partly due to Team Nigella which includes actor Stephen Fry and heiress Jemima Khan

When she was banned from entering the U.S. because of her past drug use, he tweeted: ‘I am absolutely mortified with embarrassment over the cruelty and hypocrisy of U.S. actions re: #Nigella travel. Unbelievable.’

Bourdain, who is happily married, has the kind of global profile which Nigella envies. While in LA, she was filming The Taste for ABC with Bourdain — the show is now in its third series in America but failed to get traction on Channel 4 when it was trialled over here.

Other new members of her circle are the once troubled Hollywood actor Robert Downey Jr, who asks her for pie recipes, and Lena Dunham, actress and writer of the hit U.S. TV show Girls.

And so, with friends in high places, a new publishing deal and TV appearances on both sides of the Atlantic, Nigella marches on.

In the circumstances, who could blame her for looking a little strained?

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