This year I made time to grow the best vegetables, monster vegetables, that I’ve ever grown in my life. My houses are never done. And I’m writing my autobiography. That’s the scariest project for me because I don’t really like everything about myself — where I’ve been, what I’ve done.
I get up at 6:30 every morning. My housekeeper comes at 7, and I can’t be in bed when she arrives. That would be very embarrassing. I’m a bad sleeper, in any case. At times I’d rather watch a documentary. Other times, I might be anxious, not for me but for my grandchildren. If I wake in the night, I read the headlines to make sure we’re not being bombed.
- 1976Ms. Stewart chopping vegetables in her kitchen.
Susan Wood/Getty Images
- 1980At their Connecticut home, with her then-husband, Andy Stewart.
Arthur Schatz/Getty Images
- 1982Her first book, “Entertaining,” is published.
- 1997On “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno.”
Margaret Norton/NBCU Photo Bank, via Getty Images
- 2002Ms. Stewart’s merchandise on display at K-Mart.
Carlos Osorio/Associated Press
- 2004After being sentenced to federal prison for insider trading.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
- 2005Ms. Stewart appealed her conviction and was released.
Mario Tama/Getty Images
- 2005Speaking to the staff of her magazine Martha Stewart Living.
Timothy A. Clary/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images
- 2015Ms. Stewart’s friendship with Snoop Dogg has endured for over a decade, leading to several jobs together, including co-hosting a cooking show.
Christopher Polk/Getty Images
- 2020Ms. Stewart founded a new line of CBD products.
Celeste Sloman for The New York Times
- 2023Showing off her cover of Sports Illustrated’s swimsuit edition.
Noam Galai/Getty Images
Maybe a little uncertainty can help fuel ambition. When I left my job on Wall Street, I knew I had to create a career for myself. I became a caterer, catering parties every night. Still I thought, “Will there come a time when my granddaughter — she’s 12 — is asked, “What did grandma do?” And all she can say is “Oh, she made parties for people.” I thought, “I have to do something more than this.” That was in the 1980s, when I wrote my first book, the one on entertaining.
At that time I wasn’t keeping my eye on the home, even though I was known as a homemaker. It wasn’t enough for a marriage. Maybe I regret not having had more children. Maybe I regret that my marriage ended abruptly. We’d been together 27 years. That used to be considered a long time, so when a long marriage ended, it was like somebody died. Maybe I would have liked getting married again. I didn’t, but I don’t mind. Still, I’m curious about what could have been.
My never-ending curiosity drives me. Will it stop? That’s never even occurred to me.
Current and upcoming projects: Autobiography in progress; an untitled Martha Stewart documentary from R.J. Cutler, who directed “The September Issue,” to stream on Netflix in 2024; a PBS documentary series, “Hope In the Water,” set for broadcast in 2024; a partnership with Samsung for a 2023-2024 advertising campaign; a line of gardening clothes and accessories in collaboration with French Dressing Jeans and Marquee Brands.
This interview has been edited and condensed.
Source: Elections - nytimes.com
