We all know Martha Stewart. We know her as the billionaire businesswoman founder of the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (publishing, tv, online, and merchandising) empire. She can grow anything in her garden and make a centerpiece out of a twig and a gum wrapper. But what do we know about her personal life? Is Martha Stewart married? What's up with her and Snoop Dogg?
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Where Martha Began
The second of six children in a Polish Catholic working-class family, she was born Martha Kostyra in Nutley, New Jersey. All the kids pulled their weight around the house and that's where Stewart first learned how to cook, sew, and garden from her parents. She was creating household hacks before hacks were cool.
She began modeling in high school, making it into fashion magazines and onto tv commercials. She modeled for fancy New York City department stores, even being hired by Chanel for her elegant modeling skills. This lady was on a path to success early on her life.
When Martha Stewart Married
She attended Barnard College, graduating with a double major in art and architectural history. Her aesthetic abilities have always been spot on. Fashion, home design, garnishing delicious plates of food...she was destined to have her own television show.
While Martha was at Barnard, she met Andrew Stewart on a blind date. Andy Stewart was finishing his degree at Yale Law School and the young couple married in July 1961. Martha graduated college in 1963, continuing to model while her husband Andrew began his law career.
After Martha and her new husband Andrew flew to Europe for their honeymoon, it seemed there was trouble right away. Martha and Andrew met a "handsome young Englishman" in Florence Italy. And according to Jerry Oppenheimer in Just Desserts, his unauthorized tell-all book about Martha Stewart, the Englishman had a few drinks with the young couple and when Andrew said goodnight, Martha didn't leave with her new husband.
"Upset and angry, Andy went to bed alone while Martha went off with her new friend," Oppenheimer wrote. When Martha finally came back to their hotel room, she told Andy she had gone to midnight mass. That old excuse...Ouch.
In 1965, Martha Stewart and Andrew had their first and only child, Alexis Stewart. Their daughter Alexis would later write a 2011 book called Whateverland: Learning to Live Here, about her childhood. She didn't have very warm and fuzzy things to say. She said Halloween, Christmas, and all holidays weren't really celebrated.
In 1965, Martha left her modeling career behind switching gears to work on Wall Street. She'd always had an interest in finance (that sure would come in handy) and Martha was now working as a stockbroker making a six-figure salary early on.
She left that finance career in 1973 when the market dropped and turned her attention to renovating the old farmhouse she and her husband Andrew had bought the year before. That home on Turkey Hill Road in Westport, Connecticut became the heart of her empire. She started teaching cooking classes and running a catering business out of her own kitchen. It was the American dream.
Success and Failure
It's no breaking news that Martha earned a reputation of being abusive and demanding. It was the exact opposite of what she presented as her "hostess with the mostest" persona. Like so many success-driven people, Martha's marriage couldn't withstand the pressures and Andrew became her ex-husband in 1989.
Martha kept at it through creative self-promotion by writing articles about herself for local newspapers. Genius! She grew her catering business and home & garden expertise to a national level.
In 1982, Martha's first book simply called Entertaining hit the best-seller's list, and off she went on a national book tour and television interviews. More books followed and then came Martha's Kmart contract in 1987. We all remember those Kmart commercials.
In 1990, Time Warner began publishing, Martha Stewart Living Magazine, which was the first celebrity-based women's lifestyle magazine. Even before Oprah Winfrey's O magazine and Rosie O'Donnell's Rosie magazine. Martha became a regular guest on The Today Show and America loved her.
In 1993, Martha Stewart hosted her own tv show and won several Emmy Awards (of course she did) during its 10 year run.
Crazy Money
Stewart was back on Wall Street in 1999 in a different way when her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public. The stock went crazy and Martha now had a net worth of one billion dollars overnight.
And in 2002, it all began to crumble. A federal investigation began into whether Martha was involved in insider trading of another company. Eventually, she was convicted of lying to investigators and obstruction of justice. She served five months in federal prison and five months of house arrest. All I remember of this was Martha saying she taught her fellow inmates how to make grilled cheese on a radiator. Martha is badass.
Is Martha Stewart Married Now??
Martha Stewart has been in relationships with billionaire Charles Simonyi (1993 - 2008), actor Anthony Hopkins (1990 - 1991) and Watergate journalist Carl Bernstein.
Martha told Harper's Bazaar, "I used Match.com with great disappointment. They just don't make algorithms for people like me." That's the truth. Martha added that she's in favor of kissing on a first date.
"It's a good thing" became Martha's tagline and while she may not be referring to her dating history, Martha is unapologetically Martha. And that's a very good thing to be.
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