Martha Stewart is a respected businesswoman who transformed homemaking into a massive
empire, but behind that cookie-cutter exterior is an icy woman with an interesting past.
Here's a look at the untold truth about Martha Stewart.
Bad mama
Being Stewart's daughter is no easy task.
So says Alexis Stewart in her damaging and juicy memoir entitled Whateverland: Learning
to Live Here.
Alexis said her mother was extremely tough on her.
"If I didn't do something perfectly, I had to do it again.
I grew up with a glue gun pointed at my head."
And nothing seems to have changed now that she's an adult, either.
Alexis says in her book that her mother is a terrible guest, writing,
"My mother will occasionally complain that I don't invite her over for dinner.
But can you blame me?
Because, sometimes this is what will happen: Whatever I serve, she will sip it, taste it,
make a face and push it away."
Ouch!
Unladylike behavior
When fans think of Martha, adjectives like "proper," "domestic," and "creative" often
come to mind.
Many consider her to be a woman with impeccable manners, but according to her daughter, the
celebrity socialite is no expert on etiquette.
In her book, Stewart's daughter Alexis paints a picture of a woman who doesn't even exhibit
good manners when using the ladies' room.
"Mother always peed with the door open.
I remember saying, 'You know, now I have friends over!
You can't do that anymore!
It's gotta stop!
My friends' parents don't do it!
Give me a break here!'"
To borrow one of Martha's catch phrases, using the bathroom with the door open is not "a
good thing."
Goop fight
Stewart isn't keen on anyone trying to share in her domestic-diva success, taking aim at
goop.com curator Gwyneth Paltrow after the actress spoke about her "conscious uncoupling"
from husband Chris Martin in 2014.
According to Us Weekly, Stewart designed a dessert called "Conscious Coupling" for her
Martha Stewart Living magazine.
It was no coincidence: Stewart also told Net-a-Porter magazine that Paltrow "just needs to be quiet,"
adding, "If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn't be trying to be Martha Stewart."
In retaliation, Paltrow concocted a "Jailbird Cake" recipe for her website.
"She wants to be a lifestyle arbiter.
Fine, good.
I think I started this whole category of 'Lifestyle.'"
Bad boss
As anyone who saw the campy TV movie Martha, Inc.: The Story of Martha Stewart will tell
you, Stewart built a reputation for allegedly being ruthless and cutthroat, especially in
the workforce.
In 2013, sources told Vanity Fair that "top executives found it increasingly difficult
to work at her company; C.E.O.'s and C.F.O.'s came and went."
"...she doesn't trust anybody and she has to control everything.
Martha is delightful, charming, brilliant, fascinating—if you are in the room alone
with her.
You bring a third person in and it becomes poisonous.
She has to dominate."
Jailbird
In 2004, Stewart famously was sent to prison for five months.
Don't worry, though, she didn't let prison change her too much.
According to Stewart, she spent her time building a giant nativity scene while teaching ceramics
to her fellow inmates.
Despite that, though, Stewart told Today that the idea something good came from it was a
bunch of bull.
"It's terrible.
I lost a fortune!"
Just how much money she lost is unclear, but in 2015, she finally sold Martha Stewart Living
Omnimedia for $353 million, a far cry from the $2 billion value it once held at its peak.
There was one silver lining to the experience, as the hit Netflix series Orange is the New
Black introduced a character named Judy King who was clearly based on Stewart.
"Look, we need to borrow D-List Martha Stewart for a while.
We need to show the media that she's not locked up in a closet with a bag over her head."
But leave it to a killjoy like Stewart to suck the fun out of even that.
In 2016, she told Chelsea Handler that she's never watched the show.
"When you live through something like 'Orange is the New Black', the characters, the actual
characters, are bitter."
She's still shady
Even after she got out of prison, Stewart's reputation as a shady dealer continued to
grow.
In 2012, Macy's sued both Martha Stewart and J.C. Penney, accusing her of double dealing
after she signed a deal to put her products in J.C.Penney's despite already having a similar
deal with Macy's.
The legal wrangling continued for years, becoming more complicated in 2015 when Macy's had to
recall frying pans from the Martha Stewart Living collection after receiving complaints
that the defective pans caused "bruises, burns and welts."
Strange bedfellows
Her business practices may be shady, and her fortunes may be less than they were two decades
ago, but like any smart businessperson, Martha Stewart has managed to stay afloat thanks
to a totally random friendship with Snoop Dogg.
Since Snoop made a guest appearance on her show in 2008, the two have teamed up for numerous
appearances over the past decade, culminating in their own cooking show, Martha and Snoop's
Potluck Dinner Party, for which they were recently nominated for an Emmy.
Sometimes, truth really is stranger than fiction.
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