all right first guess is not the not the one but uh two new television shows Martha now
in daytime and The Apprentice Martha Stewart which premieres September 21st on NBC here's
the one the only Martha Stewart ladies you look wonderful you look tremendous Martha thank you
thank you very much for being on the program and first you know during all of this well I
missed you as well I miss you they told me it was like almost three years yeah it was crazy isn't
it yeah it seems like yesterday it really does uh and and in that time I don't know visit me
I I made uh every now and then I would make jokes about I heard yeah
TV and home and I felt I felt horrible about it because I just felt like well I know this woman
for a long time were very good friends and here we are making jokes about a a terribly
unfortunate situation so it's it's nice that you came back well I know it was all in good fun and
it is your job and I always stick up for your job well thank you I do I appreciate that now let's
let's go back in and first of all there's two parts to this what exactly happened
tell people what exactly happened and then when when the the the the the uh
why you went to jail what what were you convicted of what I don't know
about me Dave is that I don't have a long memory for bad things so I'm trying very hard
to put it out of my mind and get on with the future but in in in in legal terms they said
and I I'm not trying to be silly about this I'm so horrible about legal terms I'm not a lawyer and
um I was married to that lawyer remember oh God I I tried to keep all legal terms sort of out of my
vocabulary and um maybe I shouldn't have because but uh it was well I understand the case is still
under appeal is that right yes yes it has not been yet ruled on by the Appellate Division and
we're waiting for that that's why I'm not going to say anything and if the if the conviction if
the conviction is overturned what what how do they restore the the time that you spent away
um well they don't actually but um I will be happy anyway in any event I would be very happy
and do you have a feeling that it is likely to be overturned or you have no feeling whatsoever I'm
trying not to get my hopes up or down in any anyway but you you chose at one point rather
to rather than wait for the appeal process to go ahead and take the the sense well I
can't I can talk just a little bit about that um when one is convicted and sentenced uh you
can appeal and I was I was allowed to appeal and I could not go to Yale as we called it
we always called it Yale I always wanted to go to Yale um so um but if I had not gone to Yale
um I would have uh no TV show this fall not not two TVs I wouldn't have even one TV show this fall
um I would not have uh probably not have a business because um everyone waits for things
to be over a Reconciliation of any kind was better than never knowing exactly so um going to Alderson
was the best thing I could have done I'm glad I did and um and whatever happens now um well I I
can I can think optimistically I can't you know I don't want to say optimistically but I can think
optimistically now at a certain point in the in the uh before the trial I I heard or read that
there was a possibility that there could have been a plea bargain is that true or not no no no there
was never a plea bargain brought to you I don't believe bargain so uh I mean I would have if I
felt I had to right and and the the the actual conviction was not insider trading was it no it
was not it it was it was about I think obstruction of justice obstruction of justice now in in your
heart it was a mistake a mix-up or do you feel like well tell me what you do feel
um well since I am on appeal and I don't really I don't want to really I just don't
want to talk I feel a little uncomfortable talking about that right now I'll come back
after the appeal all right uh so now uh I'll clear it up okay but we can't we
can't talk about the the five months you were in prison oh sure okay we'll do that when we come
right back everybody in life has those precipice moments where where one second everything as you
know it is as you know it and the next even less than a second everything as you know it might be
entirely different right so you went through a couple of those the first was uh the the return
of the verdict what are you thinking when you're waiting to hear the return of the verdict do you
do you have a feeling of which way it's going to go or you don't know no we were pretty optimistic
actually and when I I heard the verdict I actually thought I was in a bad dream and
then I heard a thunk behind me and my daughter it fainted no and um and then it I kind of woke
up and realized that uh not only you know Not only was I hurt but a lot of other people would
be hurt by this verdict so uh so I was shocked back into reality right and and to what extent
I I have a very low threshold of embarrassment you probably not know that from watching the show
but I I would guess that part of this just as a human being the the embarrassment of
all of this negative attention and and um sort of feeding a frenzy that goes on it
was hugely embarrassing isn't it well I was less embarrassed than horrified
and uh heart and that's a very different feeling and uh and horrified not only for
me but for everybody around me I I mean all my beautiful employees you know the whole thing it
was pretty horrifying right and yet um I'm pretty strong I found out how strong I was during this
whole ordeal and uh mentally strong and also physically strong so I um did not allow myself
to get depressed I did not allow myself to get down too much I faced what I had to face I lived
through it with actually sort of flying colors if you can live through Yale with flying colors and
um um I probably would have been Phi Beta Kappa at Yale if uh if I if I treat it foreign
but you you know you mentioned something there in a list of other things you said you did not allow
yourself to be depressed and you just kept going that's the hardest thing in the world to do on
any given day let alone the circumstances how can you not let yourself get depressed what do you do
I mean it's it's a chemical reaction that kicks in and there you go but I have good I have other good
chemicals too I guess but I wouldn't take pills and I wouldn't take any AIDS I didn't I didn't
um drink you know I don't I didn't do any of that stuff I just sort of you know waited and got done
did the thing and got it over with so now the the announced the verdict and then later there's the
sentencing and that's another one of those moments and you're thinking what maybe just kind of house
arrest at the worst or probation or no no I didn't think I didn't I I was pretty prepared for
um for what what I got yeah all right and take us through that when you it's
one of those deals like it's the middle of the night to check you
in and are you in trouble do you want why do you want to know all this stuff
because I mean you really have been in the fire you've been tested yeah
uh and and I think everybody wants to know gosh how would I hold up how
many more attractive yes you are you believe me
but it's so crazy you shouldn't be you know nobody should even you know want to talk to me about it
really but no I find it but everybody's curious very curious and and um and actually a a woman's
institution like Alderson is not a terribly frightening place it's frightening when one day
I was walking up the hill and I told some friends this and I realized that gosh these 1100 women
um all they it's all about them I mean they have to walk up that hill every single day
they have to contact their families because the families can't contact them other than by
letter they have to keep in touch they have to do all the work and I was so fortunate
because every single visiting day I had a guest except the day you didn't show yeah
but but again that that moment when you go in and you realize although it's it's relatively
short period of time still in all its five years out of a very productive months five five months
to me it would be five years it's it's five months a very uh productive fruitful life I
mean it was there Panic was it did you no you know I asked I asked my fellow inmates
um a couple months later I said how did I behave that first day because everybody's watching me
they said I was walking around in the days I did I smiled at everybody said hi to everybody even
probably people I shouldn't have said hello to but I said hi to everybody and uh shook everybody's
hand and uh but I was in a daze I don't remember that first date are you were your fellow inmates
uh in for was there any terrible terrible no this is a totally non-violent violent crime did you
make friends there oh many many they're very nice yeah and what kind of things did you do there I
mean you had jobs you had tasks I had a job for about 12 cents an hour and I I remember telling
the captain who was a very nice man but I remember telling him I asked him for a pair of work boots
because I one of my jobs was working inside and outside of the captain's office and I asked them
for a pair of work boots because all I had was my sneakers that I came in with they let me keep
them for some reason and because they were on a budget cut because of the war and so they didn't
have shoes for me and I asked them for a pair of work boots and he said oh they didn't have any
I'd have to buy some so I figured out it was 500 hours of work so or 600 hours of work at the 12
cents an hour and what they were charging for the boots that so I called them my my 600 hour boots
wow yeah and in moments of lightheartedness in in this condition in the circumstances oh yeah you're
always trying to laugh everybody's trying to be lighthearted and get get on with the day days and
um you know I'm as a short-termer so um that wasn't so bad but the people who were in there
for a long time they also tried to keep up a demeanor of of of light-heartedness anybody
resent you because of your status in the comments maybe I I heard some remarks behind my back but
um but pretty much friendliness but didn't know no fights no hair pulling no smacking around
um well one day I fell against a wall and I and I got I slipped on some wet
floor and I got a really bad black and blue mark on my arm and people noticed
that black I got called right down and wanted to know who I had been in a fight with oh man
oh man and I wasn't I wasn't in a fight and I I said oh I'm so sorry maybe I should have told you
about this I didn't know how black it would get you know and uh it was you know that kind of stuff
yeah no I didn't get any in any fights hardly any altercations and and uh what what have we learned
here I mean this experience has to teach you many things would you do that um that the penal system
I mean if you want to be serious about it um the rehabilitation uh really is non-existent
for the most part in terms of Rehabilitation yeah it does not I worry about that and um and in terms
of personal I found out that I could really exist with pretty much nothing um five months without
good food is a problem for for almost anybody but you can live for five months without food yeah um
or drink or or you know any luxuries whatsoever I heard you say that the souffles were just horrible
uh at all prison souffles and then at late at night is a tree you used to sneak into
the kitchen and drink Sterno or did I uh I don't think there was no Sterno available and and now
uh you're you're out of prison and and uh you're doing television shows and how is the television
show going tell us about the the Martha show what is it I'm having so much fun with the Martha show
and uh tomorrow is a really great day it's the Martha Stewart day we found out that there were 2
000 Martha Stewarts in America people with the same and 180 of them or so have showed
up in New York and they're all going to be on the show tomorrow and I just
wanted to kind of apologize for having the same name for the last couple years
because uh some of the one lady uh well you'll see on the show but one lady said that she had
run for an election three years ago and one with in a landslide for a for an assessor in
her town and then she had to run again two years later and she lost in a landslide and
sorry for her but it had nothing to do with her talents as an assessor of course but
um but it's going to be a fun show I love the live audience I see now why you have a
live audience even though I can't see the live audience in this dark Studio
advice man yeah you can see the audience
the audience is right on our stage you know it's right close up and uh
and everybody's and their participatory so I get them to bring stuff we had we had a
wonderful uh day when they brought their favorite house plant wouldn't that be fun
I just want to I just want to revisit one thing because I want to make sure I'm not missing
something here uh your composure and presentation here this evening and this by way is mostly the
context I know you in yeah it seems to be happy unflappable cheerful positive and you you said
that the worst part of all of this was you were horrified and concerned about not so much yourself
but your family and everybody else and continuing the the business and so on and so forth yeah
honestly is that the worst it got for you through all of this yeah because you know
you worry about the people you're taking care of that that rely on you I have a big company
Dave and you know I I didn't want but I didn't want that company to go away because because I
understand I understand all practical concerns but what about concerns for your well-being your
you know physically and mentally this is you know this is not like a day in traffic
and I can and I can take care of myself
but you know we had Russell Crowe on here and and he I love Russell Crowe yeah but he I mean he he
behaved like a like a frightened bunny compared to you he did yeah you see that yeah he had thrown
a cell phone at somebody and he just uh he he you could tell that he was Disturbed and concerned by
the whole thing well it can ruin his life actually well that's what I'm talking about with you this
this can't ruin my life because I've I just don't think I don't feel guilty and I don't feel um and
I feel I had an unfair trial and I you know so there must be again a great sense of so I can feel
good feel good but what about a sense of outrage do you feel outraged about this um that doesn't
do you any good in the system it just doesn't so you have to go through the legal process you have
to do the thing you have to be mature you have to uh trust your advisors you have to do all
that stuff and uh and get on with it do you think jail would be right for me [Laughter] is some good
uh Martha done now every day and uh Martha The Apprentice Martha Stewart premieres
September 21st you're gonna watch oh yeah I'll be there oh please uh well
it's great pleasure to see you again I hope you come back you look tremendous
thank you congratulations on being so good about this nice job [Music]