By Michele Yeo
“I am a perfectionist. It runs in the family,” is probably the least shocking revelation from Martha Stewart in the new documentary Martha now streaming on Netflix. The nearly two-hour film, directed by R.J. Cutler, who has previously profiled the likes of Vogue editor Anna Wintour, Elton John, and Dick Cheney, so he knows a thing or two about prickly subjects, attempts to peel back the layers of a woman who went from catering queen to industry titan, to convicted criminal and late night punchline and back to international cultural icon.
Told in chronological fashion with input from family members, friends, business associates and reporters but with the main character herself as the chief contributor, Martha takes us through her trajectory beginning with her early days in New Jersey. “Here’s this girl from a family of eight in Nutley, New Jersey, living modestly, who gets a good idea, builds it into something really fine, and profits from it. That’s basically my story,” is how Martha describes her journey. But, of course, as with most life stories, it’s a little more complicated than that.
With an empire built on image, perfection, and with her name and face at the nucleus of it all, if you’re looking for Martha to get vulnerable and raw in this documentary or to shed a tear, you’re on a fool’s errand, Martha herself admits she places more emphasis on “doing” over “feeling.” But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t get candid and straightforward in her signature Martha style admitting it was “very obvious” that she was her father’s “favourite” of his six children while also offering that her father was a “bigot” who protested her marrying a Jewish man. And speaking of marriage, she doesn’t mince words when it comes to her 27-year union with ex-husband Andy Stewart saying, “if you’re married and you think you’re happily married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s the piece of shit. Look at him as a piece of shit and get out of it. Get out of that marriage,” while also admitting, “I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk away.” When it comes to motherhood, Martha, whose brand is built on perfection, certainly doesn’t present herself as a perfect maternal figure, “I thought it was a natural thing,” she says about motherhood,” and turns out it’s not at all natural to me.” Her honestly is a breath of fresh air.
What did come naturally to Martha was entertaining and making things beautiful. And after a short, but successful stint as one of New York’s only female stockbrokers, Martha and Andy moved out to Connecticut where they bought a fixer-upper farm that they gutted with Martha putting her midas touch on everything. If it weren’t for the farm, Martha says “I would not be me right now.” It’s where she started her own catering company which led to her first book, eventually snowballing into a multi-media empire including books, products, magazines, and television. As Martha was becoming a household name, a veritable doyenne of domesticity, her homelife was crumbling with Andy pumping the brakes on their marriage and seeking divorce. One gets the impression it might still be a sore subject for Martha with her asking “can we move on to a happier subject?”
Martha is definitely happiest when discussing her phenomenal success, “I could have just been a miserable has-been housewife but I didn’t let that happen for myself and I’m so happy I didn’t.”
An understatement if there ever was one, Martha soared, becoming America’s first female self-made billionaire and head of a publicly-traded company. “What does it mean to be the first female self-made billionaire in American history?” she asks in the doc, “people took me seriously.” And eventually, so did the Feds.
Naturally, no documentary about Martha Stewart would be complete without addressing the insider trading scandal which saw her sent to prison for five months for conspiracy, obstruction, and making false statements. One friend refers to her 2004 trial as a “bitch hunt” where Martha’s popularity, personality, and relentless pursuit of perfection were also on trial. “Martha Stewart is being prosecuted for who she is, not for what she did,” says one friend. Those prosecutors should have been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high,” says Martha in the doc, calling the experience “horrifying” adding, “I was a trophy, a prominent woman, the first billionaire woman in America, we got her!”
Referring to her post-prison comeback attempt, Martha says, “I had to climb out of a fucking hole.” Immediately after her conviction, broadcasters canceled her shows, advertisers pulled out of her magazines, her stocks plummeted, and Martha was forced to step down from her own board before eventually selling off Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia for parts. Producer and creator of The Apprentice Mark Burnett gave Martha a new daytime show that she refers to as “more like prison” than her actual incarceration. But like a phoenix rising from the ashes, Martha could not be kept down. An appearance at the 2015 Comedy Central roast of Justin Bieber where she was seated next to Snoop Dogg ignited what would become the Martha Stewartassaince and the rest is history, with Martha enjoying even more cultural relevance than before, thanks in part to her embracing social media.
Think of her what you will, there is absolutely no denying Martha’s success and impact. She is unapologetically ambitious, steely, shrewd, and unwavering in her resolve and her documentary is truly a celebration of everything Martha. Now, in her 80s, Martha tells us she’s letting go of her vice grip on perfection saying, albeit through gritted teeth, “I think imperfection is something you can deal with.” But in true Martha fashion, she’s already voiced her various gripes with the film with the New York Times citing issues with the camera angles, the music, the time devoted to her trial, what was kept in, what was cut out and other production notes, unironically proving that Martha can’t be ever be completely satisfied, even by Martha. And we wouldn’t have it any other way.
