Harrowing Claims Martha Stewart Has Made About Her Time In Prison

New details about Martha Stewart's stint in prison have emerged, and her time behind bars was anything but pleasant. Netflix's documentary "Martha" tells her story, and director R.J. Cutler included interviews, archival footage, and Stewart's private letters.

"I had to do all that crap that you see in the movies. You can't even believe that that's what you're going through," Stewart said in a documentary interview. Her first day began like any other inmate's: "Physical exam, stripped of all clothes. Squat, arms out, cough — embarrassing," she wrote in a letter. She was given no comfort, as her accommodations were "an old double-decker bedstead metal spring and metal frame. The springs are very saggy and thus an unhealthy bed set." Of course, being a celebrity chef meant prison food couldn't escape her criticism, as Stewart wrote, "What worries me is the very poor quality of the food and the unavailability of fresh anything as there are many starches and many carbs, many fat foods. No pure anything."

Stewart described one of the worst incidents, writing, "Today I saw two very well-dressed ladies walking and I breezed by them, remarking on the beautiful warm morning and how nice they looked. When I realized from the big silver key chain that they were guards, I lightly brushed the chain. Later I was called in to be told never, ever touch a guard without expecting severe reprimand." It landed her in solitary as punishment. "This was Camp Cupcake, remember? That was the nickname. Camp Cupcake," she said in the documentary. "It was not a cupcake."

It's sometimes easy to forget Martha Stewart's biggest scandals, including when she served a five-month prison sentence between 2004 and 2005, and then five months home confinement in addition. She was convicted on charges of obstruction of justice, conspiracy, and lying to federal investigators.

Stewart was an investor in the biopharmaceutical company, ImClones. She, along with many others, sold her shares in the company before its stock price tanked at the end of 2001, leading to an investigation for insider trading. Stewart pleaded guilty, although she continued to argue she was innocent. According to The New York Times, Stewart wrote in a statement, "To believe that I would sell, to avoid a loss of less than $45,000, and thus jeopardize my life, my career and the well-being of hundreds of others, my cherished colleagues and partners, is very, very wrong."

While Stewart's tenure in prison is just one small part of her storied life and career, it did help strengthen her friendship with an unlikely BFF: Snoop Dogg. "[People knew how crazy and unfair ... all of that was. And in Snoop's world, it gave me the street cred I was lacking," she told CBS' "Sunday Morning" in a 2017 interview.