echo Intro
Many people today may only vaguely know Martha Stewart as ‘that cooking woman’. Others may recall her fall from fame during her widely publicised trial and subsequent imprisonment. R.J. Cutler‘s compelling, tell-all documentary ‘Martha’ (now streaming on Netflix), offers a closer, more intimate look into Martha’s life and work, revealing the hardships she endured behind the scenes, amidst intense scrutiny from the media and the public. From teenage model to the first self-made female American billionaire, the film hails Martha as “the original influencer” and “the most powerful woman on the planet”. Weaving archival footage, letters, diary entries, and sketches with a single sit-down interview with the woman herself, Cutler tells a transfixing story of the rise and fall, and rise back up, of Martha Stewart.
Rise to Fame
Martha Stewart was born in 1941 in New Jersey, as the second of six children. Growing up in a household where her parents struggled to make ends meet, Martha began modelling as a teenager, going on to be featured in television commercials and magazines to support herself through college. During her time at Barnard College, she met her future husband, Andrew Stewart.
Discovering her passion for cooking and entertaining, Martha launched a home catering business in 1976. She threw lavish and beautifully curated parties, often attended by the rich and wealthy. This grew into a million-dollar business, and this marked the beginning of Martha Stewart’s rise to fame.
An idea was born in writing catering books, which propelled her into popularity. Eventually, this was followed by her magazine Martha Stewart Living in 1991, and her brave venture into television a year later. Breaking off with Time and buying back 100% of her work marked the beginning of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), a multimedia corporation bringing in $200 million dollars a year. In 1999, MSLO went public on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the first “only one-woman, one-person conglomerate” to ever exist, and it “caught on like wildfire”.
Branding and Empire Building
Martha has always sought to fill a void. If there was something that people wanted but didn’t yet exist, Martha was there to capitalise on that market. Women of the 1990s, many raised by mothers who had started going to work instead of being housewives, represented a generation unfamiliar with traditional domestic skills—and that’s where Martha Stewart stepped in, offering guidance and inspiration.
Something many people failed to see was that Martha Stewart was not merely a homemaker but a visionary entrepreneur. She was the first person to recognize the potential to transform homemaking into a successful business. It was not something anyone had ever done before, primarily because it centered around Martha’s own personal life. “I was the audience,” she says, “That was the secret.” Everything Martha presented, from recipes to gardening tips to table settings, always held a tone of authenticity because her audience believed she genuinely lived by the aesthetic she laid down. She was inviting them into her life of domestic perfection and it awed them. However, because her brand’s success depended on her image and personal life, Martha, inevitably, presented a meticulously curated version of her life, which opened the door to criticism.
“She was the first person that saw the marketability of her own personal life.”
Martha Stewart stood out in the industry for her reputation of being a perfectionist. Other homemakers of her day were pleasant and laid back, always promising something that could be easily accomplished. Martha, on the other hand, was a sharp contrast: bold, striking, and defiant, she laid down an aesthetic that set industry standards. Her eye for detail, precision and care in her work, as well as the standard of excellence she always strived for, branded her as the epitome of a perfectionist. She turned everyday tasks into ambitious art forms. This quality both distinguished her and sparked controversy. Many people felt that the lifestyle she was presenting was ultimately unattainable.
Martha, however, argues that her goal was education. She was trying to show women a world of homemaking they had never seen before while also demonstrating how homemaking could be transformed into a profitable business. At the end of the day, Martha loved beautiful things, and she wanted anyone to be able to have it too.
“She was saying to women, ‘Homemaking can be a powerful thing.’”
Thus it troubled her, when her marriage started to break down, as it exposed cracks in the perfect life she had presented to the public. She had, in essence, “sold herself to the American public as the queen of perfection,” but now her image of domestic bliss was being questioned. The physical and emotional toll of her divorce was reflected in her professional life. Martha was slammed in the press as the “queen of mean”. She was often strict, demanding and borderline rude, constantly striving to achieve the flawless standards she set for herself. She upheld an aesthetic of perfectionism that others often found intimidating, leaving some to feel inadequate by comparison. Martha showed a ‘casual, easy perfection’ that ‘drove people up the walls’.
“She does something that all of us theoretically could do, but she just does it better.”
The Intersection between Gender & Success
During her early career, many potential investors and businessmen failed to see her vision. They didn’t understand how ‘living’ could sell. Businesspeople viewed the creation of a magazine in addition to her catering books and, subsequently television shows, as redundant. Perhaps what puzzled businessmen was how something as seemingly so trivial as homemaking could be transformed into such a profitable business that generated hundreds of millions of dollars per year. At one point, her stock was valued at $1.2 billion. Thus, they attempted to undermine her. An easy target was Martha herself– particularly, her ruthlessness.
“She was a tough boss, but you know, like some of the behaviour that she would be taken to task for would be applauded if a man did it in the business world.”
But that was exactly what made Martha’s success so poignant. By contrasting her success with the cultural stereotypes that aimed to diminish it, the documentary powerfully illustrates how Martha’s being a woman both shaped her public image and made her a target of criticism when she defied the roles traditionally assigned to women. She had taken the cultural bias of a typical housewife and wielded it as something powerful, and better yet, profitable. She was not a woman who succeeded by doing what men did; she was a woman who, in her own right, was just as successful, if not more so, than any other man in the corporate world. An astute essay by Joan Didion is quoted in the film, which accurately sums this up:
“The dreams and the fears into which Martha Stewart taps are not of ‘feminine’ domesticity but of female power, of the woman who sits down at the table with the men and, still in her apron, walks away with the chips.”
The Scandal
Martha’s conviction for insider trading serves as yet another example of the double standards she faced. The documentary takes us through the details of the scandal as well as the intense media frenzy that surrounded it. Journalists sought to sensationalise her downfall, portraying her as a symbol of corporate greed and questioning her personal integrity. Martha’s reputation as a perfectionist and a female authority figure in the corporate world appeared to have fuelled public interest in her downfall.
“You always wanna see Little Miss Perfect fail.”
As a result, the film raises the question of whether Martha’s punishment was a reflection of her own mistakes or a systemic bias against powerful women. The fact that there were numerous other corporate men with far larger financial scandals compared to Martha underscores this. It is argued in the film that the basis of the obstruction of justice trial was largely unfounded. How could someone be tried for lying about a crime they didn’t commit?
It was a personal attack on Martha by the U.S. Attorney Office, described as ‘revenge’ by “prideful men who couldn’t bear being embarrassed”. Who better to use as an escape route than one of the biggest people in the corporate world, who was, more importantly, a woman? Both the trial and the media was used to make her out to be a ‘difficult, abrasive person’, which was that much easier because it was something Martha was already known to be. Thus, targeted by the government, the press, and betrayed by her best friend in court, Martha faced a sentence of 5 months in prison, 5 months of home detention, 2 years of probation, and a fine of $30,000.
This pivotal moment in Martha’s life reshaped her image and changed the narrative of her career. After all, the vulnerability of her company was rooted in the fact that her brand was built around promoting the lifestyle of the CEO—Martha herself. Thus, when that image was completely slandered and destroyed by the media, the company suffered.
Resilience & Reinvention
The film doesn’t portray Martha’s imprisonment as the end of her career, but instead as a stepping stone for reinvention. Her time in prison camp – harsh, scary, and isolated – transformed her. Someone who thrived on maintaining control at all times had lost it. But this turned out to be a positive development for Martha. Previously, she constantly worried about her image and reputation, but now “the worst thing that could possibly happen happened, and she survived it”. Martha left prison “set free”.
However, Martha’s story doesn’t end there. Through media appearances, (mainly her appearance on the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber), and expanding her brand post-scandal, Martha reclaimed her position as an influential figure in the business world. She transformed a story of public humiliation into one of perseverance, cementing her legacy as more than just a homemaker. She reclaimed her identity and was respected for her resilience and strength in the face of adversity.
Martha Stewart’s Legacy & Cultural Impact
Overall, the documentary portrays Martha Stewart as a complex, multifaceted individual. Nobody is perfect, and she is no exception. Despite her perfectionist tendencies, Martha herself concedes that as one gets older, imperfections become more acceptable and manageable.
Martha has voiced some dissatisfaction with the documentary, yet it has earned many people’s respect and appreciation. It humanised her, showing her struggles and passions as she worked her way from the bottom up. At the heart of it all was the fact that Martha simply loved homemaking. She genuinely enjoyed what she did. It was a love discovered, grown and fostered while fixing up her first home on Turkey Hill Road. Despite her perfectionism and the criticism she received, Martha Stewart was a true inspiration to women of her time. She pushed the bounds of homemakers, giving them a voice, expression, and beauty.
“I’m celebrating something that’s been put down for so long. I think I’m like the modern feminist.”
Martha’s own personal development helped her to become more in touch with everyday people. As Joan Didion put it, Martha “made even her troubles an integral part of her success.” People respected her for her perseverance, intelligence, and determination, and the documentary builds on that by examining the ups and downs of her rise to fame, divorce, success, scandal, and eventual rebirth.
“The “cultural meaning” of Martha Stewart’s success, in other words, lies deep in the success itself, which is why even her troubles and strivings are part of the message, not detrimental but integral to the brand. She has branded herself not as Superwoman but as Everywoman…”
Martha’s cultural impact extends far beyond her time. Martha redefined the industry as well as what it means to be a successful, powerful woman. She has transformed the image of household work from a mundane necessity to a renowned craft, and continues to influence and inspire creators and influencers as a pioneer of personal branding.
Stream the documentary “Martha” now on Netflix where Martha details more about her story.
Watch the official Netflix trailer for “Martha” here
Written by: Reeya
Edited by: Ashley
