Inside the epic rise & fall of ‘trad wife’ Martha Stewart & the fake dream that made her a millionaire even after jail

WHEN most people think of Martha Stewart, they picture the TV star in her country estate baking cakes and decorating eggs for Easter - but it's a far cry from the woman she is when the cameras stop rolling.

Now 83, Martha has opened up about how she played up to the perfect housewife stereotype and became America's first female billionaire as a result, before landing in jail.

The new Netflix documentary titled Martha features interviews with the woman herself, along with her colleagues and family members, to show who the real woman was behind the glossy magazines and housekeeping TV shows.

Her net worth crashed when she was jailed but she's successfully rebuilt her reputation, here's her epic tale of ups and downs...

Humble Beginnings

The self described perfectionist reveals her eye for detail came from her father Edward Kostyra, a salesman, who put pressure on the kids at a young age to learn how to garden and grow.

Her mother, Martha Kostyra, was a teacher and the pair could barely afford to raise six children, so often sold their produce in return for other essentials.

Martha described her father as 'mean' while her brother Frank noted they would be hit with a belt if they did anything wrong - leading him and their siblings to dislike gardening, but not Martha.

After her dad lost his job, Martha was forced to go into work, modelling and acting in TV commercials, but in her downtime she still gardened and would obsessively watch her mum cooking in the kitchen.

"I thought it was pretty fantastic she could do all that, but the cookie-cutter house and the cookie-cutter life was not for me," Martha said.

She then headed to college, where she met her first husband Andrew Stewart.

The pair tied the knot in 1961 and had their only child, Alexis in 1965.

During their extended five-month honeymoon travelling the world, Martha explained it instilled a love for food and culture.

"It did awaken in me a love of cuisine, a love of travel a love of discovery," she added.

It all started when she left her job as a stockbroker on Wall Street - as one of the only women working in the office, she soon learned how to charm investors with billions she says.

And she took that onboard when she left in 1973 to start her own catering company after realising just how much she loved hosting and cooking.

Catering events for the rich and famous - Martha's exquisite taste in food and presentation landed her a book deal for entertaining in 1982 and sold over 625,000 copies - and the rest is history with Martha now publishing over 100 cookbooks.

On the way up

Despite claiming she didn't want a cookie-cutter life, Martha sold that dream to millions of women using her personal life to create a brand all about herself - decorating her home for the holidays, cooking dinner for family and even sharing interior design tips.

“She was the first person that saw the marketability of her personal life. Martha was the first influencer,” says her friend Lloyd Allen.

Promoting herself as the typical American housewife and mother, Martha became relatable to many women with the dream of a simple life while making the big bucks from it.

But behind the scenes her life was far from the cookie-cutter life she promoted, she revealed that even on their honeymoon, she had kissed another man while they were in Italy.

While at church, she met a man inside and the pair shared a kiss during the 'emotional' ceremony, something Martha denies as infidelity.

In 1990 the pair ended up divorcing and Martha's career continued to grow - landing her TV segments, book deals and her own magazine.

In 1996, Stewart founded the media conglomerate Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to purchase these ventures, and when the business went public in investment in 1999 everyone wanted a slice of the cake.

It led to Martha becoming the first self-made female billionaire, as she recalls: "That was a great day," she told Insider in 2016.

"I drove up Madison Avenue after the offering. I was an instant $1.6 billionaire. It was a fabulous day and I thought, huh … I can buy anything on this street!"

"I had opposition, and that kind of opposition to a woman-built business was really outrageous," she told People in 2020.

"Even my own lawyers were negative about the possibility of success. I remember one lawyer sending me an orchid, saying, 'Oh, you did it. Wow. What a surprise.' What a piece of garbage that guy is."

Crashing down

Riding high on her success, Martha looked unstoppable - but like anything in life, it soon came crashing down.

As the only face of her business - a lot of its success rode on how Martha was perceived by the public which came crumbling down when she was accused of using insider information in the stock market for her own benefit.

She recalls how she was told to sell her stock in the company ImClone, a business she was invested in and started by a friend Sam Waksal, by her broker - saving her from losing £40,000.

But six months later, Martha says 's**t hit the fan,' as her friend Sam was accused of insider trading, apparently tipping off two family members to sell before stocks plummeted.

It also appeared that other people had been warned including Martha, dragging her into the legal battle.

The case became public in 2002 when Sam was arrested and it was made clear she was involved too - leading public shares in her company to decline by 20%.

Martha was put on the stand in a jury trial in 2004 and was found guilty of felony charges of conspiracy to obstruct, of obstruction of an agency proceeding, and of making false statements to federal investigators.

This led to her being locked up in prison for five months and a two-year period of supervised release, including five months of electronic monitoring at home.

"I had to do all that cr*p that you see in the movies - you... you can't even believe that's what you're going through," she said as she documented having to be strip searched.

She also noted how the food was horrendous, with nothing but carbs and fats fed to you and the monotonous routine left her bored.

In the one hour break they did get, Martha made sure to learn something new every day until she was placed in solitary confinement for 'touching an officer'.

"This was Camp Cupcake, that was the nickname," she said of the prison, adding: "It was not a cupcake."

On the outside, her TV shows had been cut by multiple channels and her magazines were no longer getting the advertisement deals they once had - with brands fearful of being related to a criminal.

Building it back up

Now stuck in prison and with her business failing, Martha recalls she had to 'climb out of a f***ing hole."

She made the most of her time behind bars, teaching the women gardening skills and inspiring them to do better once released from jail.

Susan Spry, a fellow inmate and now friend, said:"We did become close. We became good friend.

"I do believe Martha had a profound affect on me."

When she left prison, she was approached for a new TV show in 2005, but the formatting didn't work and her popularity continued to dwindle.

But not one to give up, Martha made a shocking comeback in 2015 with the most surprising list of A-listers.

"I have two mottos, one is 'learn something new every day.'

"And the second is 'When you're through changing, you're through.'"

Instead of trying to get back her cookie-cutter image, she went on to appear on Comedy Central's roast of Justin Bieber.

Finally, Martha could be herself in front of the screen - cracking jokes about her time in prison and warning Bieber against that path.

During the episode, she was sat next to Snoop Dogg and the pair seemed to instantly hit it off.

Not only was she now in with a new crowd of celebrities - she also had a whole new younger fan base open up to her.

“She sat next to me and she stole the show, ” Snoop said in the 2019 TODAY interview. “She was the funniest roaster that night. In that moment I knew I wanted to be alongside this lady for the rest of my life.”

With her and Snoop's unbeatable chemistry, the pair were offered a TV show, Martha and Snoop’s Potluck Dinner Party, which ran for four years.

Since then, Martha has risen to fame once again, and has managed to reinvent herself as a 'sexy gran' on Instagram posing in the pool and has control over her brand once more with the help of social media.

Once a stern perfectionist, Martha's highs and lows of life have taught her 'imperfections are a little bit more okay.'