From world-famous chef to toilet scrubber. And why was she banned from the prison kitchen?
Here's what Martha Stewart's life in prison was really like.
Martha Stewart was 63 when she went to prison on charges related to insider trading in 2004.
For five months, Stewart was living at the Alderson Prison in West Virginia.
Known as "Camp Cupcake," the minimum-security prison is made for white-collar criminals.
Unlike most other inmates, Stewart had access to swimming pools, tennis courts, and a stage.
She also had email, access to a TV room, and a common area.
"There's only one TV available and you have to sit in a room on hard chairs,
and you look up like this at the TV."
While this might sound like a cakewalk, Martha Stewart certainly doesn't think her time in
prison was easy. During an interview with Katie Couric, Stewart revealed,
"It was horrifying, and no one — no one — should have to go through that kind of indignity,
really, except for murderers [...] [It is] a very, very awful thing."
During her stay, Stewart was forced to clean toilets, and she also abhorred the lack of
privacy. As a celebrity, Stewart also found herself being the butt of numerous jokes,
which she equated to being kicked while she was down.
Evie Litwok, who was incarcerated at the same prison in 2010, shared Stewart's sentiments. Then
60, she revealed that it was her job to sweep the streets at the camp. Litwok wrote in Talk Poverty,
"At an age where working a physically demanding job for seven- and eight-hour days
was grueling [...] sweeping rocks off the street only to see my work undone by passing vehicles."
Litwok also revealed that there was no comfort in prison,
as between lunch and dinner, they could not return to their units. She wrote,
"We were not allowed to read, do crossword puzzles, knit, play cards, or sleep.
Instead, everyone had to spend long hours in plastic seats attached to the table."
While prison rules mandated that all prisoners had to work in the kitchen during their first 90 days,
Martha Stewart wasn't required to do so. As for why, Litwok wrote in Talk Poverty,
"I suspect she was refused because this chore might have given her an inkling of pleasure
within the miserable prison environment. She was instead assigned to the humiliating
task of mopping the floors and cleaning the toilets of the warden and other higher-ups."
"I'm used to all kinds of hard work, as you know, and I'm not afraid."
Despite not being allowed to cook for the prison kitchen, Stewart still managed to engage in her
passion while incarcerated. The lifestyle mogul revealed that she picked wild plants
like dandelions, along with fruits, and used them to create meals, telling the Daily Mail,
"Some of the food was dated three years prior so I made crab apple jam from the trees."
"And I did quesadillas, they were very good."
"This is no Shawshank Redemption, I'm telling you."
Stewart lost some weight during her time in prison, reportedly dropping 10 pounds
in the first seven weeks. According to People, Stewart avoided prison food and
made a habit of hitting the prison's workout facilities during her stay,
alongside carrying out her rigorous cleaning chores.
Though she only served a short sentence, Stewart saw enough of prison life to speak out about the
way women were treated while locked up. Calling for widespread prison reform,
Stewart addressed her fans, writing on her official website,
"I beseech you all to think about these women — to encourage the American people to ask for reforms,
both in sentencing guidelines, in length of incarceration for nonviolent first-time offenders,
and for those involved in drug-taking."
Stewart also suggested an alternative to long prison sentences, writing,
"They would be much better served in a true rehabilitation center than in prison where
there is no real help, no real programs to rehabilitate, no programs to educate, no way
to be prepared for life 'out there' [...] many with no skills and no preparation for living."
Considering her status, it's no surprise that Stewart had friends and family
visit her in prison. But one of her most high-profile visitors was Rosie O'Donnell.
Interestingly, the pair weren't even close friends at the time, but as O'Donnell told Page Six,
"After she was in prison I got a call from her assistant who said she’d like you to come to visit
and it kind of broke my heart to think that of all the people she knew she had
to invite someone she sort of didn’t know to come all the way to Lynchburg,
Virginia. I had to get a plane and go there."
In another heartwarming gesture, O'Donnell arranged for an Italian Capri lemon tree
to be ready for Stewart at home after she was released.