Martha Stewart has recently released a documentary about her life on Netflix, called Martha. In the film, she shares that her father got violent with her when she told him she was getting married to Andrew Stewart.
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Near the beginning of the documentary, Stewart goes over how she met Andrew, her ex-husband, and how they got married. As well as their first time doing the deed. She was smitten with him from their very first date.
He impressed her with him American Express Card, his "little yellow Mercedes Sudan," and with his nice personality and good looks. When he proposed she marry him in 1961, it "seemed such a natural thing to do."
She continued, "but I went home and told my dad, and my dad slapped me."
"He slapped me hard on my face, and said, 'No. You're not marrying him. He's a Jew,'" she recalls him saying. "I remember getting that slap," she says, a little choked up.
"I was not at all surprised, because he was a bigot," she continued, "and he was impulsive." Martha stuck to her guns and told him she'd get married no matter what he thinks. And that's exactly what she did.
Martha Stewart Faced With Abuse By Father
Although she doesn't detail it in the documentary, I wouldn't be surprised if her father, Edward Kostyra, hurt her further. It must have been incredibly difficult living with a violent father, especially when it was over the man she dearly loved.
Thankfully, the ire of her father didn't ruin her wedding. Her mother helped her make the dress and the day was "very happy." It's unclear if her father attended her wedding. If he did, then his disapproval didn't dampen the wedding, likely due to Martha's strong spirit.
Following the wedding, the newlyweds went on an extended 5-month honeymoon to Europe.
Despite the happy wedding and the very happy years that followed, Martha and Andrew Stewart divorced in 1990 due to infidelity.
