Martha Stewart Has Never Been The Same Since Her Divorce

Martha Stewart's marriage both began and ended before she launched her homemaking empire. The author and business mogul divorced her ex-husband, Andrew Stewart, in 1990 following a three-year separation and 26 years of marriage. Interestingly, while divorce often leaves emotional wreckage in its wake, Martha subsequently went through a stunning transformation and seemed to thrive more than ever after ditching Andrew. In fact, the very same year that their divorce was finalized, she launched the first issue of "Martha Stewart Living," which eventually led to her TV show and homemaking collections.

Less than a decade later, she officially became a billionaire. "The life that I had is over, and what has taken its place is better," Martha famously told People. However, behind the scenes, the divorce hit the domestic diva harder than she let on. During a 2020 interview with the outlet, Martha's carefully picked words failed to hide the cracks in the brave front she projected to the world as the homemaking icon sadly acknowledged, "Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me, because we were the first to divorce in my family."

The lifestyle mogul admitted that it still hurt that they hadn't spoken since the split either. And although Martha quickly added that she was "very motivated to get on with life," the lingering sting was unmistakable regardless of her demonstrable success. Martha's late mother, Martha Kostyra, who spoke to People back in 1995, was much blunter about the divorce that "badly wounded" her daughter, confessing, "I don't think she'll ever get over it."

Known for maintaining an air of mystery and remaining somewhat aloof even as her global profile increased exponentially, Martha Stewart has never directly addressed why she and her ex-husband, Andrew Stewart, divorced. However, we do know that when the former couple filed to officially end their union, he successfully petitioned the court to ban Martha from talking to him ever again. Three years later, Andrew married his second (of three total) wives — who just so happened to be Martha's former assistant. Still, the bestselling author, unlike many other celebs, still stayed tight-lipped about what really went on between them.

This decision not to speak publicly about their marriage is why Martha's admission of infidelity, more than three decades later, left many stunned. While advising wives to leave their cheating husbands in her Netflix documentary, "Martha," she was interrupted by a producer wondering, "Didn't you have an affair early on?" Her response was casual: "Yeah, but I don't think Andy ever knew about that." Given that Netflix is one of the most popular streaming services in the world, it's safe to say he probably does now.

Expectedly, Martha was bombarded with questions about this shocking revelation during the October 16, 2024, launch of her 100th book, which was held shortly after the trailer for "Martha" was released. According to the Daily Mail, when her pal, Lee Brian Schrager, asked how she kept her deceit a secret for so long, the successful entrepreneur offered a rather cheeky response: "Very easy, you have to be circumspect."