Nigella Lawson says having "distortions" of her private life discussed in court was "mortifying".
The TV chef has given her first televised interview since her former aides, sisters Elisabetta and Francesca Grillo, were acquitted of fraud last month in a trial which detailed her troubled marriage to ex-husband Charles Saatchiand her alleged cocaine use.
Nigella told Good Morning America: "I have to be honest, to have not only your private life but distortions of your private life put on display is mortifying, but there are people going through an awful lot worse and to dwell on it would be self-pity, and I don't want to do that."
The 58-year-old beauty claims she doesn't remember much of the trial but insists her intention for giving evidence was to protect her two children - Cosima and Bruno.
She recalled: "You're so focused on answering the questions to the best of your ability that actually you don't have enormous awareness of yourself ... maybe that's a good thing.
"My only desire really was to protect my children as much as possible, which alas I couldn't do, but that's what I wanted to do."
Nigella - who was promoting the second series of her US cookery show The Taste on the ABC show - also admitted that "eating chocolate" during the festive season helped her get over the trauma of the trial and she is looking forward to a fresh start in 2014.
