Martha Stewart is getting the documentary treatment, Variety reported Monday, with Netflix obtaining the rights to the film about the life of the media and lifestyle mogul. The documentary is reportedly directed and produced by R.J. Cutler, who also directed Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry and Belushi as well as the film The September Issue.
Not much is known about the documentary at this point except it’s being described as following “the life and times of Martha Stewart.” Stewart’s early life as a babysitter for the children of baseball icons Mickey Mantle and Yogi Berra is likely a focus of the film, as is her modeling career and rise into one of the most recognizable culinary and lifestyle experts and TV hosts. It’s unclear how far the documentary will go into her life, and if it will include her current career endeavors or 2004 prison stint for insider trading. Trevor Smith, Jane Cha Cutler and Alina Cho will also produce alongside Cutler, as will This Machine, an Industrial Media company. Elise Pearlstein is an executive producer. No timeline for the documentary’s release has been announced.
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Stewart certainly has lived a storied life, opening up in February to Harper’s Bazaar about her time in prison. “I knew I was strong going in and I was certainly stronger coming out,” the author said, admitting that while she didn’t want to go in-depth about her time serving her sentence, “It was a very serious happening in my life.”
“I take it very seriously. I’m not bitter about it, but …. My daughter knows all the problems that resulted because of that. There’s a lot,” Stewart explained. She continued that the two-year probationary period after her sentence was when she got “really pissed” off. “My only big regret that I can talk about is that Saturday Night Live asked me to host,” she told the publication. “My probation officer wouldn’t give me the time. That really pissed me off because I would have loved to have hosted Saturday Night Live. I’d like that on my résumé.”
The one positive side effect of her prison sentence was her friendship with Snoop Dogg, with whom she currently hosts Martha & Snoop’s Potluck Party Challenge on VH1. Because Snoop spent time in jail on drug charges in the ’90s, Stewart said on CBS’ Sunday Morning in 2017 the rapper felt it gave her the “street cred [she] was lacking.”
