What We Know About Martha Stewart's 5 Siblings

Martha Stewart has been a household name for decades. The model-turned-businesswoman began with a small catering business and transformed it into an enviable multimedia empire, utilizing a primary business model almost entirely focused on her own image and reputation. Stewart invited everyone into her house and home, in turn invading the homes of America by penning 100 lifestyle books from 1982 to 2024, appearing on her own television shows, and landing a wildly successful partnership with K-Mart, one that made her aspirational style available (and more importantly, affordable) to the masses. 

Stewart has had her fair share of hard-to-forget scandals and fascinating facts abound when it comes to her personal life, from when she accidentally went on a date with the late Larry King to her unlikely bond with Snoop Dog. The lifestyle icon is the first-ever self-made female billionaire (although her net worth is now estimated to be in the hundreds of millions), she's owned over 20 peacocks, served a highly publicized five-month stint in prison after being found guilty of insider trading, and became Sports Illustrated's oldest cover model at the age of 81 with a steamy photoshoot that shocked the world in 2023. 

Although Stewart is an accomplished gardener, the media hardly mentions Stewart's own family roots — namely, that she's one of six children. Her five siblings Eric Scott, George Christiansen, Frank Koystra, Kathryn Evans, and Laura Plimpton have more in common with the lifestyle giant than you may realize, including a solid work ethic they all collectively learned from Polish immigrant parents Martha and Edward Kostrya. From a shared love of baking to working directly with Stewart herself, read on to learn more about the siblings of America's favorite homemaker.

Out of all of her siblings, Martha Stewart had the longest-standing professional relationship with the late Laura Plimpton. According to her obituary, the baby of the family worked with Stewart for 40 years, beginning with her earliest catering venture. In fact, Plimpton met her first husband, actor Kim Herbert, after he became enamored with the lemon bars she made when Stewart's company catered the Stratford Shakespeare Festival. The two married in 1979 and had two children together, Grammy-nominated musician Christopher Dylan Herbert and therapist Sophie Martha Herbert Slater. After Kim died of cancer in 1985, Plimpton relocated from New Jersey back to Connecticut, where she resided prior to their union.

Plimpton's career with Stewart continued throughout the decades, and she went on to work primarily as a writer for "The Martha Blog." She met her second husband Randy Plimpton in a similar fashion to how she met Kim — at a work event for one of Stewart's business ventures. The two hit it off at a photo shoot in 1989 and wed in 1990, having one son together, avid birdwatcher Charlie Plimpton. The couple remained married until Plimpton's death in August 2014 after complications from a brain aneurysm at the age of 59.

Stewart wrote about her late sister in a memorial post uploaded to the very blog Plimpton "edited, researched and often wrote, captioned and photographed content for," where she praised her for being an organ donor. "She was kept on life support until today so her three children could say their goodbyes, and the testing could be completed for organ donation," Stewart penned. "We are so sad but also happy that Laura had the foresight to donate so many healthy organs to needy people."

As of 2024, Martha Stewart had suffered the tragic, untimely deaths of two of her siblings: first her youngest sister, Laura Plimpton, and then her brother George Christiansen in 2017, just three years later. He died of a suspected heart attack at the age of 65. Christiansen took after his sister's homemaking ways, reportedly loving to bake pies so much that he requested to be on her television show to do just that with blueberries he grew at his own home in Fairfield, Connecticut.

Stewart shared a close relationship with her younger brother, and he, along with his wife Margaret "Rita" Christiansen, even ran the main office for Stewart's company at one time. Christiansen's own business, Pequot Remodeling, was instrumental in the remodel of Stewart's beloved first home, a Connecticut farmhouse called Turkey Hill where she resided from 1971 to 2007. Stewart spoke fondly of the famous property in a post for her blog: "Turkey Hill was a dream place for my family and me for many years ... I would not be who I am today without the vast knowledge I gained there, on that small bit of paradise."

House and home were of the utmost importance to Stewart's late brother, who shared his thoughts about their time spent together as children in one of Stewart's books. "It was all about going and finding a piece of land and living off of it, learning how to get back to nature. Listening to banjos, listening to folk music, discovering Leadbelly and the Mamas and the Papas. We used to have the greatest evenings with a bunch of hospitable people. Martha would make pies and other things for the occasions," Christiansen wrote in "Being Martha: The Inside Story of Martha Stewart and her Amazing Life."

Although Martha Stewart boasted close relationships with siblings George Christiansen and Laura Plimpton and remains close to eldest brother Eric Scott to this day, she hasn't always shared that same warmness with Frank Kostyra. In fact, she was estranged from her brother for approximately five years, although he claimed they also experienced tension as children. "Martha and I have always had a lot of sibling rivalry — I remember us lying on the floor biting and scratching as kids, trying to get each other to say, 'Uncle,' but she would never give in," Kostyra revealed to the New York Post. When it comes to her widely held reputation for having a short fuse, he gave an explanation that called upon family traits they have in common. "It's not easy being a Kostyra — we have minds that move at 90 million miles an hour and if you get sidetracked, you get irritable," he said.

Regarding their estrangement, Kostyra confirmed in an interview with The O'Reilly Factor that Stewart believed he'd sold a story about her sister to the press, something he vehemently denied. "So she actually held on to her belief that I sold her out, which I really didn't," he said, adding that when it comes to their prolonged lack of contact, "It was just a disagreement and I have to honor that. It's something that came between us." Surprisingly, it was Stewart's trouble with the law that inspired her brother to reach out and make amends in 2004 during the court proceedings she endured due to being charged, and subsequently convicted, of insider trading. "I could see the horrible agony and heartache in her eyes and in her face — I had to stop myself from tearing up," he told the New York Post. 

Martha Stewart had plenty to say about her eldest brother Eric Scott's talents in an Instagram posted to her account in 2023. "Eric is a retired dentist and in his free time he sculpts, he carves, he fabricates Tiffany lampshades, builds American eighteenth century furniture, and myriad other things. He can also can fix just about anything!!! These beautiful carved wooden decoys illustrate his eye for accuracy and skill as a carver," Stewart boasted, alongside photos of two beautifully carved wooden ducks.

Although Scott may be able to create all different kinds of artistic things with his hands, the one place you won't find them is in the dirt. Despite sharing a love for crafting with his famous sister, her passion for gardening isn't something with which he wants anything to do. While learning to grow their own food as children inspired Stewart, the necessity of it, paired with their father's harsh standards, ruined the activity for Scott. "To this day, I despise gardening," he admitted in Stewart's Netflix documentary, "Martha." 

While Martha Stewart can't stand her own Netflix documentary, the highly anticipated film, simply titled "Martha," hit the streaming giant in October 2024 to acclaim from both critics and audiences. As the documentary delves into her storied life and career including her childhood, all three of Stewart's living siblings, Kathryn Evans, Eric Scott, and Frank Kostyra, participated in the production, although they opted to remain off-camera. Their commentary mostly revolved around the strict upbringing they endured at the hands of their father, Edward Kostyra.

"We had our whippings," Frank revealed. "We dreaded the yardstick and at times it was the end of the belt." Eric echoed the sentiment that punishment was central to their father's parenting style. "He would give us an order, and if we didn't follow through, we paid the penalty," he explained.

Evans, Stewart's younger sister, has largely spent her life out of the spotlight, though she did attend Stewart's New York trial in 2004 with their mother, Martha Kostyra. She's also appeared on her sister's Instagram. In the "Martha" documentary, she spoke about her sister's early modeling career. Stewart looks so different in throwback pics from her modeling days, and Evans confirms her talent for captivating an audience dates all the way back to her early work. "Everybody stopped everything to watch Martha," she shared. Not much has changed, and we can't wait to see what the icon comes up with next.