A Deep Dive Into The Extraordinary Life Of Martha Stewart

At 83, Martha Stewart continues to dominate the media, including the internet. We’re talking about a reality TV homemaker (the original “trad wife”) who is cooler than her frequent collaborator, Snoop Dogg. And with the recent release of her Netflix documentary, Martha, fans can’t help but praise her for building a successful self-brand, especially after a brief stint in federal prison.

In the film, the flirty entrepreneur opened up about her 1990 divorce, as well as her pursuit of perfection, which stems from her “perfectionist” father. “Here’s this girl from a family of eight in Nutley, New Jersey, living modestly, who gets an idea,” she said of her journey, “builds it into something really fine, and profits from it. That’s basically my story.” Here’s how Martha found success in homemaking after dabbling in several other fields.

10 1950s: Martha Stewart Started Modeling At Age 13

Martha was already a natural on camera at age 13 when she started modeling. It went on until her time at Barnard College in New York City, where she studied European and architectural history. At that time, she did campaigns for Breck, Clairol, and Lifebuoy Soap. In Makers, a 2013 PBS documentary, Martha said: “I got enough modeling jobs at $50 an hour—which was a lot of money at that time.”

9 1965: Martha Stewart Became A Wall Street Stockbroker

In the 1960s, Martha was the only woman working at her stock brokerage. At that time, she had just married Andrew Stewart. In her Netflix documentary, she discussed having to “put my arm out like that (keeping men away)” and “the stuff going that went on in the back seat of the taxis, I’m not even gonna talk about.” While the men weren’t at their best behavior around her, she admitted they were “smart” and that she “learned a lot at that firm” (not necessarily the men).

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In one of her savage moments in the documentary, Martha also emphasized her interest in men who are working on something; not those who just want to bond over feelings. “It doesn’t interest me so much to know, ‘Oh Charles, how do you feel this second?’ I don’t care, actually,” she said of why she hasn’t had many serious relationships, referring to her billionaire ex-boyfriend, Charles Simonyi.

Andrew was Martha’s only ex-husband. They were married from 1961 to 1990. They welcomed a child together in 1965, a daughter named Alexis. The couple split after the latter cheated on the former’s assistant. The documentary showed the homemaker’s letters to Andrew, detailing her disdain for his affair with a younger woman.

At that time, Martha was struggling with insecurities about aging. “I should be vital, beautiful, sexual, and desirable,” she said in one of the letters. “And here I am a total wreck. I’m 45 years old, worried, and lonely, alone, hopeless.”

8 1976: Martha Stewart Co-Founded A Catering Business

After leaving Wall Street in 1972 and moving with her family to Connecticut, Martha got into catering, which was the start of her homemaking success. In 1976, she co-founded a catering business called Uncatered Affair with her old friend, Norma Collier. Even then, Martha’s exquisite taste and presentation skills attracted high-profile clients who helped kick off her career.

7 1982: The Start Of Martha Stewart’s Book And Publication Career

Years after starting her catering business, Martha released her first book, Entertaining (1982). There, she revealed that her catering venture “began by chance” after teaching a cooking class for her daughter and her friends. The businesswoman didn’t think it would take off the way it did.

Soon, Martha was sharing her expertise in organizing events—from overseeing a “Sunday Brunch Album,” CBS Masterworks Dinner Classics, a compilation of background music for picnics, cocktail parties, brunch, and even exotic dining. That decade saw Martha’s expertise as an author, publishing other books like Martha Stewart’s Hors d’Oeuvres (1984) and Weddings (1987).

In 1990, Time Publishing Ventures, Inc., teamed up with Martha to publish the monthly magazine, Martha Stewart Living. She then starred in a syndicated TV show of the same name, from 1993 to 2004. By the end of that decade, her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, was listed on the New York Stock Exchange, with Martha as chairman and CEO. She then became the first self-made female billionaire in the United States.

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Reflecting on what made her a lifestyle mogul, Martha said in her documentary: “I am my best customer, I am my best reader. I am my best student. I know what I need and what I want, and I try to understand that in our audience.” She also clarified that her career was never about women serving their men. She was famously accused of setting a backward example for modern women back then.

Martha clarified that she didn’t want to “glorify homemaking by putting pretty aprons and high heels on” for the male gaze. “We were real. You do it yourself, or you earn the money and buy it,” she continued. “That’s one very basic fact of Martha Stewart Living.” When you look at her work and background growing up under the “strong hand” of her father, you’ll understand that Martha is all about attainable “perfection”—something we can whip up in our own homes.

5 2004: Martha Stewart Served Five Months In Federal Prison

Martha lost her billionaire status in 2002 when stocks of her company plummeted amid allegations of insider trading. While she didn’t exactly go to federal prison over those charges (the FBI couldn’t prove she was guilty), she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction, and two counts of lying to federal investigators. She was then sentenced to five months in federal prison, five months of home confinement, and three years probation.

Martha Stewart’s Experiences In Prison

• She discovered that “prison does nothing to reform” or “induce people to go on to better things.”
• She “was not protected” from those who wanted to “jump” her.
• She had to wake up at 6 a.m. and “touch up” bathrooms as part of her job.
• She was “dragged into solitary for touching an officer” where she was given “no food or water for a day.”
• She was asked to be a speaker for Muslim women who wanted to “better themselves and improve their situations.” She motivated them “to be entrepreneurial if they had a good, unique, and clear idea.”
• She found it “distressing” that Charles didn’t want to “hang out with someone in jail” and was going on boat trips around the world.
• She felt like “nobody would miss” her if she didn’t get out of prison.

Before the term was widely used, The Apprentice alum was canceled after that controversy. When asked about her incarceration, Martha said: “I had to keep my self-esteem and my conviction that I was a good person. I mean, it was a pretty terrible time… And then [my success] falls into a hole. I had to climb out of a f–king hole.”

4 2005: Martha Stewart Returned To Daytime TV

Martha decided to get right back to work after she was released from prison. She then returned to daytime TV with Martha (2005-2012), where she demonstrated cooking and entertaining projects with special guests in front of a live studio audience. By 2010, she gained her power back in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, this time as chief editorial, media, and content officer.

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Martha resumed her duties as chairman of her company in 2012, following the expiration of the ban by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which was included in a 2006 settlement. In 2015, the company was sold to Sequential Brands for about $350 million. The deal agreed to keep Martha’s exposure on TV and to maintain her role as chief creative officer.

3 2016: The Start Of Martha Stewart And Snoop Dogg’s Collaboration

While Martha did a pretty impressive job redeeming herself in the mid-2000s, her reinvention—a term she ironically hates—saw its peak when she started collaborating with Snoop Dogg in 2008. Here’s a timeline of their friendship, which kicked off at the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber in 2015.

During their first show together, Snoop told Rolling Stone: “I’ve never met anyone like Martha Stewart. When we come together, it’s a natural combination of love, peace and harmony.” In criticizing her own Netflix documentary, Martha said she was hoping to get Snoop’s music as background throughout the film. “I said to [director] R.J. [Cutler], ‘An essential part of the film is that you play rap music,” she told the New York Times.

Martha didn’t like “looking like a lonely old lady” in the documentary. She added that the focus on her prison stint “was not that important.” She candidly confessed: “The trial and the actual incarceration was less than two years out of an 83-year life. I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth.”

2 2023: Martha Stewart Made History As Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Star

Martha may have felt insecure in her mid-40s, but after nearly another 40 years, she confidently graced the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit edition. “Age is not the determining factor in terms of friendship or in terms of success, but what people do, how people think, how people act, that’s what’s important and not your age,” she told the magazine at that time.”

1 2024: Martha Stewart Is Now Worth $400 Million

Martha was unable to regain her billionaire status after her scandal in the early 2000s. But a $400 million net worth isn’t so bad. Her company, which was once valued at $2 billion, ended up being sold by Sequential Brands for $175 million to Marquee Brands in 2019.

Her incarceration caused tremendous damage to her finances. But that’s never stopped Martha from working. “I really am a curious person and I don’t want to go up the same road twice if I don’t have to,” she said of learning her lessons. “If I think I’ve seen it, I go back up another road, and it’s just the way I’ve been living my entire life.” And she’s not even done building her empire.

Martha

Release Date

August 31, 2024

Director

R.J. Cutler

Cast

Martha Stewart

Runtime

113 minutes