Martha, who is the first female self-made billionaire, has tried herself in different careers before becoming a well-known TV personality, and she was very successful in each of them.
As a teenager, she signed with Ford Models and was featured in shows, magazines, and commercials. According to her, she was “the all American girl.”
Later, she attended Barnard College and pursued a career as a stockbroker at an all-male firm.
“I lasted in that business for about eight years, working in a firm of all men. Only one woman owned a seat on the New York Stock Exchange at that time. I’m not intimidated by men; I never was,” Martha Stewart told People. “But men actually welcomed me to their offices. We wore hot pants to work. I still have my pale, peachy-pink ones and my chocolate-brown ones. I wore them with either high heels, bare legs, or tights. Elegant but also crazy. Like, how can you go to work in short-shorts? But I didn’t think twice about it. I was totally respected.”
Eventually, after years of working as a stockbroker, Martha felt she should spend more time with her family; her now ex-husband Andrew Steward and her only child, daughter Alexis.
While Alexis attended school in Westport, Connecticut, Martha came up with the idea of starting an at-home catering business. A decade later, she launched her company Martha Stewart Inc. which turned into a million dollar business.
In 1990, she and her husband divorced, and she had a hard time accepting the fact she and Andrew were no longer together.
“Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me because we were the first to divorce in my family,” she told the Daily Mail. “And that we haven’t spoken since the divorce is even more painful.”
In December 2001, things took a turn for the worse for Stewart. She decided to sell 4,000 shares of ImClone Systems, a biomedical firm owned by her family friend Samuel Waksal. Her decision was made only a day before information about ImClone came out publicly which made stock prices plummet. Her timely decision to sell stocks sparked rumors that this move was due to insider trading.
Due to the speculation, in 2003 she stepped down as the CEO of her company so she could focus on absolving herself from the accusations and to save her brand from her tainted image.
She was sentenced to five months in prison and five months under house arrest in 2004. After her sentence, she was only given an editorial role at her company.
Later on when she was finally allowed to leave her home, she restarted her television career, and obtained a more active role in her company till she eventually became chairman again in 2012.
Besides being active on the screen, Stewart often shares photos of herself on the social media, and some of them, especially the most recent ones, are inappropriate for someone her age according to her fans.
During an appearance on The Drew Barrymore Show, the host asked Stewart, who was quite candid about her social media activities, where she gained the confidence to pose only with an apron on, to which the cookbook writer said, “I practiced the day before to see if I looked OK…and I looked good, so.”
Plenty of her photos show her wearing just her robe and pouting at the camera, which causes quite a stir.
“I think I look fine and I’m in good shape. I’m healthy, I’m vibrant, I’m energetic and I’m still the curious person I’ve always been. [Posing in only an apron] didn’t faze me one iota,” the media mogul said of the comments people make about her.
“I walk around in a bathing suit, so if I can walk around in a bathing suit or a strapless dress and feel good, I can walk around in an apron.”
Earlier this year, Stewart discussed her health. “I do take very, very good care of myself. I have my regular checkups; they’re on the calendar at least six months in advance, I eat extremely well. I’m not a vegetarian, but I do eat a lot of good fish and very little meat. I eat fantastic vegetables that I grow myself, and delicious eggs right out of my chicken coop. I live on a farm, which I think is one of the healthiest lifestyles there is because when I get up in the morning, I can go outside and breathe fresh air.”
Stewart added, “I can plant some flowers or pick some vegetables and make a green juice that is utterly delicious, which really helps with the maintenance of good skin, good hair and strong bones.”
