Martha Stewart is back and more candid than ever with the new Netflix documentary, Martha.
The almost two-hour film offers an intimate portrait of the iconic homemaker's remarkable journey to become the first woman to be a self-made billionaire in American history.
Through personal diaries, interviews with Stewart and those close to her, and archival footage, the documentary charts Stewart's evolution from humble beginnings to business mogul, including her prison stint and unexpected comeback era with a little help from Snoop Dogg.
Watch the trailer for Martha. Post continues after video.
However, the R.J. Cutler-directed film has since drawn criticism from the titular Martha herself. She savaged the documentary in an interview with the New York Times.
The 83-year-old scolded the Oscar-nominated director, claiming that Cutler was given "total access" to her archive, but he "really used very little. It was just shocking."
Stewart also took issue with the film's musical score and some unflattering scenes and camera angles. "I told him, 'Don't use that angle! That's not the nicest angle. You had three cameras. Use the other angle.' He would not change that," she vented about the doco.
But whether the film is endorsed by its subject or not, it's still a riveting watch. Aside from the impact of Stewart's work — essentially being an influencer before there was such a career — the mogul's relationship history was especially interesting.
She was married just one time, to her ex-husband Andrew Stewart in 1961, which resulted in the birth of their daughter, Alexis. But after 30 years of marriage the couple divorced in 1990.
The divorce is something that Martha is still clearly grappling with all these years later.
"He's the one who wanted the divorce. Not I. He was throwing me away. I was gorgeous. I was a desirous woman, but he was treating me like a castaway," Stewart said in the documentary.
"He treated me really badly, and, in return, I guess I treated him badly."
Then Martha began dating soon-to-be billionaire, Charles Simonyi.
Simonyi was hired by Bill Gates in the '80s to later become the chief architect at Microsoft. He would go on to be the brains behind a couple of little-known programs… umm, Microsoft Word and Excel.
So yep, he's a big deal.
Martha and Charles formed a friendship in the early 1990s, following her divorce from Andrew.
By 1999, they seemingly went public with their relationship as they attended a White House dinner together for the Hungarian president as a couple.
With both of their rising fortunes — Martha's lifestyle empire and Charles' tech profits — they lived a luxurious lifestyle, frequent trips on Simonyi's 230-foot yacht when they weren't staying at his $10 million mansion.
"We started to go everywhere together. It was a different kind of life," Stewart said in Martha. "He had his own jet, he was building a boat in Germany and I started working on the boat with him."
But their relationship wasn't all it was cracked up to be.
When Stewart was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction and two counts of lying and sentenced to five months in prison, Simonyi only came to visit her once.
She justified his actions by saying he didn't "like hanging out with somebody in jail." She continued "He was out on his boat, floating around the world. That was distressing to me."
The documentary included a letter from Stewart to Simonyi, which spoke to the pain she was going through at the time. "I've not got an email or even a note from you for so long. I'd love to hear from you," she wrote.
But all was forgiven when she was released from jail in March 2005, and Simonyi reportedly sent a private jet to fly her home.
It wasn't until 2008, after nearly 15 years together, that Simonyi broke up with Stewart — and the details are rather savage.
"We had this elaborate trip planned. We were visiting the President of Iceland and we were in bed and he said, 'You know Martha, I'm going to get married, I'm gonna get married to Lisa'," she recalled.
Stewart exclaimed in the Netflix doc, "I said, 'Lisa who?' He hadn't told me a word."
Charles then told her that this mysterious Lisa's mum and dad had made a request: '"By the way, her parents don't want me to ever speak to you again'."
It was a sudden change of heart that still infuriates Martha.
"I thought that was the most horrible thing a person could do," she said. "How can a man who spent 15 years with me do that? What a stupid thing to do to someone that you actually care about."
She said their breakup felt like her "second divorce."
As for this mysterious Lisa, he was referring to Lisa Persdotter, who was 32 years his junior and the daughter of a Swedish millionaire.
Simonyi and Persdotter got engaged just six months after he broke up with Stewart. They were married in November 2008, and have since welcomed two daughters together: Lillian, born in February 2011, and Livia, born in November 2012.
Since the end of her first marriage and the dissolution of her relationship with Charles, the lifestyle guru has admitted she's indifferent to meeting someone new.
"If I analyse my life, I think the work has taken precedence over the romance," Stewart told E! News in 2023.
"I have a hard time making room for both and it's not the highest priority that I have a boyfriend, but it would be nice."
Feature image: Getty.
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