Top 10 Things You Didn't Know about Martha Stewart
Businesswoman and television personality. Martha Stewart is a household name and for good reason too. She's America's first self made billionaire. Starting at a young age, she was always into hosting and cooking and her talent was discovered by Alan Mirken, head of Crown Publishing Group. From there she developed Martha Stewart Living and other cook books!
#10: She Loves Eminem
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You’ll find throughout this list that Stewart has an unexpected appreciation for rap music. She’s known for playing rap during the commercial breaks of her show, viewing it as a great way to get everybody out of their seats and moving. While she’s quite fond of Snoop Dogg and Kanye West, Stewart believes that Eminem “has always” been the hottest MC, according to MTV News. It’s hard to imagine Stewart losing herself in Slim Shady’s music, but she eagerly awaits his albums. Stewart even stated in 2006 that she’d love to have Eminem on her show. We’re not sure what would be more hilarious: Eminem cooking mom’s spaghetti with Stewart or Stewart challenging M&M to a rap battle.
#9: She Has a Special Language For Animals
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In addition to cooking, homemaking, and rapping, Stewart is also highly passionate about animal rights. Over the years, she’s owned cats, champion show dogs, not to mention various farmyard animals. She has even acted as a spokesperson for PETA, imploring people to swear off wearing fur. Most intriguing of all, Stewart has her own language for animals. No, we’re not saying that she’s like Dr. Dolittle or a Disney princess. Rather, she merely has a special dog talk and cat talk, which is common for any loving pet owner. According to Stewart, she can’t talk to her grandchild like babies since they aren’t one anymore, but “You can always baby talk to your animals.”
#8: She Once Owned Eight Houses
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With a sizeable net worth and a knack for home décor, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Stewart has owned some fancy properties over the years. At a certain point, Steward had a total of eight houses. This included a Turkey Hill home in Westport, Connecticut and a 153-acre farm in Bedford, New York, as well as two more houses in the Hamptons and two apartments in Manhattan. Let’s not forget her 35,000-square-foot Seal Harbor estate, Skylands, which she still owns to this date. If we all had homes likes these, house arrest would feel more like a staycation than a punishment.
#7: She Keeps Her Horses in the Dark
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While we’re on the subject of Stewart’s many dwellings, her farm in Bedford, New York, is known as Cantitoe Corners and it was designed around very specific color scheme. Grey buildings and black animals. In addition to black sheep, black cows, and black dogs, five Friesian horses take up residence on the farm. These horses turn red when exposed to a great deal of sunlight, especially during the summer. Fortunately, Stewart cooked up an easy solution to her dilemma, instructing the grooms to keep the horses in their stables during the day. Once the sun sets, the horses are released to frolic at night.
#6: She Tried to Trademark a Town’s Name
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It’s common for small towns to feel threatened when big shots start taking over. In the case of Katonah, a quiet hamlet in Westchester, people weren’t pleased when Stewart tried turning the town into a brand name. Stewart, who’s actually a Katonah resident, wanted to trademark the town’s name for a home furnishings line in 2007. The village responded with protest songs and signs which read, “No thank you Martha.” Native Americans found Stewart’s actions offensive since the town is named after a 17th century Indian Chief. Meanwhile, local stores felt this would cause confusion and hurt business. Eventually, Stewart agreed to only seek using the trademark for chair cushions, furniture, mirrors, and pillows.
#5: She Dated Anthony Hopkins
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Martha Stewart tied the knot with Andrew Stewart in 1961. The couple remained married for nearly two and a half decades, separating in 1987 and officially splitting in 1990. Following her divorce, Martha began dating Sir Anthony Hopkins. She ended the relationship, however, after seeing his Oscar-winning performance in 1991’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” Stewart just couldn’t separate Hopkins from Hannibal ‘The Cannibal’ Lecter, basically putting her in Clarice Starling’s shoes. Considering how haunting Hopkins was in that movie, we can’t blame her for feeling uneasy. Then again, if anybody could make liver and fava beans delicious, it’s Stewart. So maybe this would’ve been a match made in heaven.
#4: She’s a Stoner
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Stewart and Snoop Dogg may seem like an unlikely pair, but these two have formed a friendship based on their mutual appreciation for cooking and rap music. On top of that, they reportedly got high while taking part in the “Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber.” Comedian Jeff Ross told Conan O'Brien that he smoked weed with the two at the roast, although that’s not exactly how Stewart remembers it. She claims that Snoop was smoking for four hours and she got a contact high as result. Of course, on a separate occasion, Stewart and Snoop also got together to cook brownies… green colored brownies… we’ll let you fill in the blanks.
#3: She Has an Awesome Nickname
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It’s no secret that Stewart has had her run-ins with the law. After her infamous stock trading scandal resulted in a guilty verdict, she was not only banned from acting as a director, CFO, or CEO of any public company for five years, but also got a five-month prison sentence, followed by five months house arrest and two years supervised release. Interestingly enough, though, Stewart’s net worth more than doubled during her stay in the big house. In addition to raking in the cash, Stewart also gained a sweet nickname while serving time. Inmates at the West Virginia penitentiary reportedly called her M. Diddy. Given Stewart’s love of rappers like P. Diddy, we can’t think of a more fitting prison name.
#2: Her Trading Scandal Resulted From Pocket Change
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Considering how much Martha Stewart is worth, you’d think that her legal troubles would’ve stemmed from a tremendous sum of money. While it might’ve been a lot of crash from a middle class perspective, the stock trading case was essentially the product of pocket change when stacked up against Stewart’s incredibly fruitful empire. By selling 3,928 shares of her stock in ImClone Systems, Stewart saved $45,673. Ironically, she ultimately had to pay a civil penalty of $137,019, exactly three times as much as she would’ve lost, as well as numerous other fines and legal fees. Martha managed to turn lemons into lemonade while in prison, though. So we guess you could say things came full circle?
#1: She’s America’s First Self-Made Female Billionaire
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Martha Stewart has certainly come a long way since her mother taught her how to cook and her father taught her about gardening. Between the ‘70s and ‘90s, she made hundreds of millions with her ventures in television, publishing, and other business endeavors. However, she wouldn’t join the Billion-Dollar Club until 1999 when Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia publically entered the New York Stock Exchange. With a public offering that skyrocketed from $18 per share to $38 by the time trading was over, Stewart became the first self-made female billionaire in the United States. That’s most definitely a good thing. Do you agree with our list? What’s your favorite Martha Stewart fun fact? For more entertaining Top 10s published every day, be sure to subscribe to MsMojo.
