Martha Stewart is sharing a shocking secret from her marriage to ex-husband Andy Stewart. In the trailer for Netflix’s upcoming documentary Martha, which premieres on Oct. 30, the 83-year-old lifestyle mogul reveals she had an affair “early on” in her marriage to Andy.
“Young women, listen to my advice, if you’re married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s a piece of s-t,” she says in the trailer. “Get out of that marriage.” A producer than asks, “Didn’t you have an affair early on?” prompting Martha to admit, “Yeah, but I don’t think Andy ever knew about that.”
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Martha and Andy were married for 29 years after tying the knot in 1961. The former couple welcomed daughter Alexis Stewart in 1965 before divorcing in 1990.
Martha follows the author and TV personality on her career trajectory from teenage model to the United States’ first self-made, female billionaire, as per Netflix. “I’m strict and I’m demanding and I’m all those good things that make a successful person,” she says in the trailer.
The documentary will also feature Martha’s candid thoughts about her five months spent behind bars in federal prison after she was found guilty on charges including conspiracy and obstruction of justice related to the sale of a stock. “I was a trophy for these idiots,” Martha says in the trailer. “I was dragged into solitary, no food or water. Those prosecutors should have been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high.”
After returning to her career following her prison release, Martha says the “cookie cutter house” and “cookie cutter life” weren’t for her. “I just could’ve been a miserable, has-been housewife, but I didn’t let that happen to myself,” she says. “And I’m so happy I didn’t.”
Martha is directed by R.J. Cutler (Elton John: Never Too Late, Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry, The September Issue), who told Netflix he wanted to recontextualize an American icon.
“I got this sense of just how much Martha was a personification of her times and such an American success story. It was clear to me that she was thinking about telling her life story in some form, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that there was a life-and-times movie to be made that explored why Martha has been such a significant cultural and business figure for so many decades in so many ways,” Cutler told Netflix. “I started reading about Martha and the more I did, the more it became clear to me that she was a complex person filled with so many conflicts and contradictions. And the more I learned about her, the more excited I became about the possibility of digging deeper into her story.”
Martha premieres on Netflix on Oct. 30.
