Martha Stewart knows a thing or two about success.
But when it comes to giving advice?
Not so much.
For instance, did you know that the TV star isn't too keen on sleep?
Yep.
Keep watching to see what other advice from Stewart you should probably avoid.
While Martha Stewart has an impressive work ethic, she got it wrong when analyzing millennials
as a consumer demographic.
In an interview with Luxury Listings in 2016, she underestimated people born from the 1980s
to mid 1990s.
Stewart told the outlet:
"I think every business is trying to target millennials.
But who are millennials?
Now we are finding out that they are living with their parents.
They don't have the initiative to go out and find a little apartment and grow a tomato
plant on the terrace."
Stewarts' lament was that millennials lack the pluck to pick themselves up by the bootstraps.
The TV star went on to add:
"I understand the plight of younger people [...] The economic circumstances out there
are very grim.
But you have to work for it.
You have to strive for it.
You have to go after it."
However, many felt that Stewart glossed over the incredibly challenging world that millennials
are trying to reconcile.
It's not as simple as saying they lack "initiative."
As economic policy writer Annie Lowrey wrote in The Atlantic, millennials joined the labor
pool at the lowest economic "downturn since the Great Depression."
Their employment options were often limited to low-wage jobs or contract and gig work,
where benefits were a rarity and they were also expected to pay off mammoth debt under
these circumstances.
Millenials lack initiative?
Go ask someone working multiple gigs with no healthcare if they "lack initiative."
A running theme in Martha Stewart's interviews is the pride she has in her work ethic.
But some of her advice might go a little too far.
On an episode of her daytime show, Stewart was joined by the late Joan Rivers, and the
audience asked them questions.
A fan asked Stewart about her morning routine and the TV star admitted that she didn't sleep
very much.
Stewart went on to explain:
"I have lots of things on my mind.
You know, I'm thinking a lot, and I think that that's a sign really of the entrepreneurial
person within me.
So they don't sleep a lot."
Stewart and Rivers emphasized that they go to bed late and wake up early to care for
their pups.
Stewart added,
"It's very good to have dogs because you do not stay in bed.
Yup."
It's worth stating the obvious: quality and quantity of sleep are essential for good health
as well as productivity.
The CDC recommends that adults ages 18-60 get at least seven hours of sleep a night.
Despite this guidance, there's a harmful cultural attitude which implies that successful people
get ahead by sleeping less, and Martha is keeping that attitude alive.
Martha Stewart and Joan Rivers got into life and parenting advice on Stewart's daytime
talk show in 2014.
They agreed that they had "strong daughters," and Rivers touchingly said of hers,
"She's the only woman in the world I want to look better than me, I want to be funnier
than me, brighter than me, prettier than me."
Stewart agreed, admitting that she wants her daughter, Alexis, to be, quote, "the best
in the whole world."
While this might be all well and good, Alexis didn't see her home life as such a positive
experience.
In 2011, she published a self-help book called Whateverland: Learning to Live Here, with
TV host Jennifer Koppelman Hutt.
Alexis dished on how challenging it was to be raised by Martha Stewart, writing,
"If I didn't do something perfectly, I had to do it again.
I grew up with a glue gun pointed at my head."
Alexis claimed that her mom wasn't a child-focused parent, writing in her book,
"Martha was not interested in being kid-friendly.
She would hand me things right before Christmas and say, 'Now wrap these but don't look inside.'"
Many years after the tell-all, Alexis and Martha Stewart are more private about their
relationship.
Maybe Alexis needed to get some things off her chest.
Martha Stewart's massive trade scandal is kind of hard to mentally juggle in hindsight,
considering how much she lost to make such a minimal amount.
In 2001, she sold ImClone stock after getting a warning from company founder Sam Waksal,
allegedly.
Then in 2004, she was charged with lying to federal prosecutors and served a 5-month prison
sentence.
She did it for a sum of $51,000.
The amount seems measly compared to her $1 billion net worth at the time.
Even more punishing, her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, fell out of the billionaire
level in 2001 and dropped by nearly $300 million, according to Forbes.
So the maneuver was definitely not worth a $51,000 profit.
The tragedy was not lost on Stewart, who spoke about the ordeal with Today in 2013.
Stewart said on the show:
"It's hard to say, 'Good comes out of a bad time.'
And that saying, that, 'It only makes you better'?
Oh my gosh.
Bull.
It's terrible.
I lost a fortune."
But Stewart is resilient, and she climbed out of the mess.
Stewart told Today:
"I was very confident, and some of my friends who didn't have that confidence, unfortunately,
missed out on the comeback.
When you know inside that you're good, that you've done well, and that you are an honest,
good person, then you know that you can live through disaster."
Fair enough, but it was an expensive lesson to learn!
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