Martha Stewart documentary: Top 5 bombshells, from ‘bigot’ father's slap to affair with 'attractive Irishman'
Martha Stewart made a number of startling revelations about her past in the new documentary "Martha."
The Netflix film follows the soaring highs and demoralizing lows of Stewart's life, including the evolution of her billion-dollar lifestyle empire, her staggering downfall and her successful comeback.
"I knew that the various narratives of her life story had been told in different ways, but never from her perspective — never by her," director R.J. Cutler told the Netflix Queue publication in August.
In a series of interviews with Cutler that were featured in the movie, the 83-year-old pulled back the veil on her personal life, candidly opening up about her childhood, her marriage and her experiences during her five-month prison stint.
MARTHA STEWART ADMITS SHE KISSED A STRANGER IN A CATHEDRAL DURING HER HONEYMOON
Here are five of the biggest bombshells from "Martha."
In "Martha," Stewart recalled growing up in a middle-class family in Nutley, New Jersey. She was the second of six children shared by Edward and Martha Kostyra.
The TV personality remembered she and Edward shared many similarities.
"It was very obvious to everybody that I was his favorite. He thought I was more like him than the other children," she said.
Stewart noted that Edward was a "perfectionist" like her.
"He got the job done that he set out to do," she said.
However, Stewart recalled that Edward was a "failure at work" who struggled with his job as a salesman and "couldn't support six children."
Stewart began modeling to earn money for the family and later attended Barnard College in New York City, where she met 23-year-old Yale Law student Andrew Stewart. After a year of dating, Andrew proposed to Stewart.
"Andy was so nice. Not at all like my father," she remembered.
Stewart recalled that her father had a violent reaction when she told him she planned to marry Andrew.
"I went home and told my dad, and my dad slapped me," she said. "Slapped me hard on my face and said, 'No, you're not marrying him. He's a Jew.'
"I remember getting that slap," Stewart continued. "I was not at all surprised because he was a bigot, and he was impulsive. But I said, 'I'm going to get married no matter what you think.'"
Stewart and Andrew tied the knot in July 1961 and divorced in 1990.
During her interviews with Cutler, Stewart recalled that she and Andrew both had affairs while they were married.
Early in the documentary, Stewart recalled that she and Andrew embarked on a five-month extended honeymoon in Europe and confessed that she kissed a stranger during a visit to the Duomo Florence Cathedral without her husband.
"It was a very romantic place, crowded with tourists, and I met this very handsome guy," she remembered.
"He didn't know I was married. I was this waif of a girl hanging out in the cathedral on Easter Eve. He was emotional. I was emotional. It's just because it was an emotional place.
"It was like nothing I had ever done before," Stewart added. "And so why not kiss a stranger?"
Stewart told Cutler that, from her perspective, the romantic encounter was not an instance of her being "unfaithful to Andrew,"
"It was just emotional of the moment. That's how I looked at it. And it was exciting," she said. "I wish we could all experience such an evening."
Later in "Martha," Stewart recalled that Andrew had numerous affairs during their marriage and was "not satisfied at home."
"I don't know how many different girlfriends he had during this time, but I think there were quite a few."
"Young women, listen to my advice, if you’re married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s a piece of s---," she said. "Get out of that marriage.
"But I couldn't do that. I couldn't walk away."
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However, Stewart admitted she also had an affair, though she believed her husband was never aware of her infidelity.
The businesswoman expressed surprise when Cutler told her Andrew confirmed he knew about the affair and shared that Stewart had "confessed it" to him.
"He says he didn't stray from the marriage until you told him you had already strayed," Cutler said.
"Oh, that's not true. I don't think," Stewart responded.
Stewart told Cutler she "had a very brief affair with a very attractive Irishman" but it was "nothing."
"It was nothing. In terms of — it would never have broken up a marriage. I would never have broken up a marriage for it," she said.
"Nothing. It was like the kiss in the cathedral."
In "Martha," Stewart also accused Andrew of cheating on her with her former assistant, Robyn Fairclough.
Stewart explained that she had offered for Fairclough to live in a barn on their property when her assistant needed a place to stay. She claimed Andrew and Fairclough began an affair while she was away traveling.
MARTHA STEWART ADMITS SHE HAD AN AFFAIR DURING MARRIAGE BUT EX 'NEVER KNEW ABOUT' IT
"It was like I put out a snack for Andy," Stewart said. "Andy betrayed me. Right on our property," Stewart said. "Not nice."
Three years after his divorce from Martha, Andrew married Fairclough, who was 21 years younger than him, in May 1993. However, they later divorced.
Andrew is married to Shyla Stewart, the president and CEO of Fieldstone Publishing. Andrew is its publisher emeritus, according to the business's website. The couple share five children, according to People magazine.
In the documentary, Stewart shared a trove of personal letters she wrote to Andrew during their marriage in which she expressed her anguish over his affairs.
"It's hard for me personally to talk about it," Stewart said of Andrew's infidelity. "Some people revel in this self-pity, etc. I just don't. I handed over letters that were very personal. So this was taken out of the letters.
"Dearest Andy, I cannot sleep. I cannot eat. My skin is worried. And many lines that were not there are now there. I'm agonizingly jealous of your other life. I can't bear that you use what we did together on others," one letter said.
In another letter, Stewart wrote, "Dear Andy, I'm in a really fragile, breakable state right now. I really feel physically ill because of all this. As if my brain were about to break."
"Dear Andy, maybe you are planning to marry her and keep her with my money so that she can paint herself in portraits in the nude," Stewart wrote of an unidentified woman.
"It is very titillating, isn't it? Maybe she will paint you in the nude also and I'd love to see that painting."
In the letter, the cookbook author wrote she was "very concerned" about her privacy and personal life and planned to tell others Andrew was "away for awhile."
Another letter said, "Dear Andy, I understand you're craving for sex with others. No one will ever care about you like I do nor will ever love you as much. Give me another chance, Andy. I'm so sorry about so much. Why does it have to be too late?"
In one letter, Stewart shared she felt "betrayed and all alone" and implied that she had threatened to burn down their house.
"When you tell me that this is no longer your home — after all we did here together — why shouldn't I say I'm going to burn it down?" she wrote.
Stewart penned a letter to Andrew while traveling to San Francisco, where, she said, she had to "talk about weddings and my wonderful life."
"I hope you're enjoying your freedom and I hope my plane crashes," she wrote. "I'm sitting on a plane right now crying, coughing, feverish, and so miserable. I cannot believe myself. I should be vital, beautiful, sexual and desirable. And here I am, a total wreck. I'm 45 years old. Worried and lonely. Alone. Hopeless. The future is a total blur."
Stewart told Cutler Andrew wanted the divorce, but she did not, and she believed Andrew "was throwing me away."
"I was 40 years old. I was gorgeous," she told the director. "I was a desirous woman. But he was treating me like the castaway. He treated me really badly. And, in return, I guess I treated him badly.
"I didn't go run off with people," Stewart added. "He was running off with people. I always thought I was a swan. And I was.
"And, like all swans, they are monogamous. And I thought monogamy was admirable. I do. I thought it was admirable. But it turned out that it wasn't. It didn't save a marriage."
Fox News Digital has reached out to a rep for Andrew Stewart for comment.
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During "Martha," Stewart recalled spending time in solitary confinement while imprisoned.
The "Martha Stewart Living" founder served 150 days at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia after being found guilty on charges related to insider trading, including obstruction of justice and conspiracy.
Stewart detailed her prison experience in letters she shared with the production team that were featured in the documentary.
In one letter, Stewart shared how mortified she felt after being strip searched on her first day in prison in October 2004.
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"Physical exam, stripped of all clothes. Squat, arms out, cough — embarrassing," she wrote.
"I had to do all that crap that you see in the movies," she said in an on-camera interview. "You can't even believe that that's what you're going through."
In one letter, she shared how she was disciplined after interacting with two female guards.
"Today I saw two very well-dressed ladies walking and I breezed by them, remarking on the beautiful warm morning and how nice they looked. When I realized from the big silver keychain that they were guards, I lightly brushed the chain," she recalled. "Later I was called in to be told never, ever touch a guard without expecting severe reprimand."
Stewart said she apologized and moved on, considering she thought "the incident was so minor when it occurred." However, she was then thrown into solitary confinement.
"I was dragged into solitary for touching an officer," Stewart claimed. "No food or water for a day. This was Camp Cupcake, remember? That was the nickname. Camp Cupcake. It was not a cupcake."
When reached for comment by Fox News Digital, the Federal Bureau of Prisons refuted Stewart's claims.
"The Federal Bureau of Prisons (FBOP) does not have solitary confinement units. While some facilities have restrictive housing units, Federal Prison Camp Alderson does not have one. In cases where it becomes necessary to temporarily remove an individual from the general population, FBOP facilities may use secure observation areas under direct supervision," the bureau said.
"While in these areas, incarcerated individuals are consistently provided with regular meals and access to potable water. These allegations do not accurately reflect the conditions or the procedures that would be followed, as the FBOP remains committed to providing humane treatment and ensuring basic needs are met at all times."
Stewart was released from prison in March 2005. Along with prison time, Stewart had also been sentenced to two years of supervised probation. Aft4er her release, Stewart served five months of home confinement during which she had to wear an ankle bracelet to monitor her movements.
After her divorce, Stewart had an on-and-off relationship with Hungarian-American billionaire Charles Simonyi until 2008.
In "Martha," Stewart opened up about her romance with Simonyi, who pioneered some of software giant Microsoft's most successful products, including Word and Excel.
"Total genius," Stewart said of Simonyi in an on-camera interview. "We started to go everywhere together. It was a different kind of life. He had his own jet, building a boat in Germany. And I started working on the boat with him. I wasn't anxious to go dating and looking for another husband anywhere. I just continued working, thinking, doing as I was always doing."
Stewart explained that she rarely discusses feelings in her romantic relationships.
"That's probably why I haven't had very many personal relationships with men, for example, because I couldn't care less," she said.
"I don't know what the reason is," she added with a laugh. "It doesn't interest me so much to know, you know, ‘Charles, how do you feel the second?' I don't care. Actually, I do care about ‘Charles, what are you doing? What do you think about doing?’
"So, I sort of gravitate towards people who are doing things all the time. And I think more about everything that I'm doing, the things that I'm working on, things that I'd like to work on, things that I'd like to accomplish. That's where I'm best."
In the documentary, Stewart recalled that Simonyi fell out of contact with her during her time in prison.
"Charles Simonyi, 'First of all, how are you? I have not got an email or even a note from you for so long. I'd love to hear from you,'" Stewart wrote in a letter to Simonyi.
When asked why Simonyi only visited her once during her prison stint, Stewart responded, "I don't think he liked hanging out with somebody in jail. He was out on his boat, flying around the world.
"That was distressing to me."
Though Stewart and Simonyi continued to date after she was released from prison, the lifestyle guru said her time behind bars changed her.
"I was much more agile prior to prison and my life became a little less exciting," she said. "And I think also it affected my relationship with Charles."
Stewart revealed that Simonyi abruptly ended their relationship in 2008 in a way in which she never would have anticipated.
"We had an elaborate trip planned," she recalled. "We were visiting the president of Iceland, and we were in bed, and he said, 'You know, Martha, I'm going to get married.' He said, 'I'm going to get married to Lisa.'
"I said, ‘Lisa who?’ And he hadn't told me a word. [He said] 'And by the way, her parents don't want me to ever speak to you again.' I thought that was the most horrible thing a person could do. How can a man who spent 15 years with me just do that? What a stupid thing to do to someone that you actually cared about," Stewart said.
"So, second divorce."
In November 2008, Simonyi married Lisa Persdotter, who was 32 years younger and the daughter of a Swedish business magnate.