New revelations from Martha Stewart documentary, plus Stewart's critiques
Martha Stewart may have built a media empire and become the first female self-made billionaire in American history, but a new documentary proves people are still hungry for answers about her marriage and divorce that was finalized more than 30 years ago.
Stewart, 83, opened up her personal archives, complete with diary entries and letters, to share the expansive story of her life like many have never seen or heard it before in a new eponymous Netflix documentary.
The revelations from "Martha" have prompted a plethora of trending internet searches surrounding her marriage and divorce, net worth, prison stint and family.
Stewart has lived an extraordinarily robust life with a career that has included time as a former Wall Street stockbroker, making a household name as a celebrated author and Emmy Award-winning television host, and handcrafting an omni media brand seemingly solely based on her personal presence that's spanned generations and transcends cultural shifts.
Martha Stewart talks crumbling of her marriage
Despite building a billion dollar brand and publishing 92 books in the years following her 1990 divorce from Andy Stewart, fans of the media maven are intrinsically curious about the hot topic of her marriage, which came to light again in the Netflix documentary.
Stewart revealed that both she and her ex-husband, a publisher, had extramarital affairs while they were married from 1961 to 1990.
While retracing the trajectory of their relationship, Stewart said in the documentary, "He was not satisfied at home.... I don't know how many girlfriends he had during this time, but I think there were quite a few."
She admitted to also having a "very brief affair with a very attractive Irishman" while living with her then-husband in New York City, but she said it was her husband who pushed for divorce after his highly publicized relationship with one of her ex-assistants.
"Young women, listen to my advice, if you're married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he's a piece of s---," she said in the documentary. "Get out of that marriage."
Andy Stewart has not commented publicly on the documentary.
That period of Stewart's life also brought her a daughter, Alexis Stewart, born in 1965.
"After Andy left, I really lost myself in work, the ideas for the future, and luckily I had them," she said in the film. "I could have just been a miserable has-been housewife, but I didn't let that happen to myself, and I'm so happy I didn't."
Martha Stewart criticizes results of documentary
Following the film's Netflix debut, Stewart sounded off on director R.J. Cutler in an interview with the New York Times.
"R.J. had total access, and he really used very little," she said referring to Cutler's access to her archive. "It was just shocking."
The Times reported that Stewart spent nearly 30 "uninterrupted minutes" critiquing the Oscar-nominated filmmaker during the interview.
According to the outlet, Stewart said she thought Cutler spent too much of the documentary focused on her five-month prison sentence in 2004 for obstruction of justice and lying to federal investigators in connection with an insider trading case.
"It was not that important. The trial and the actual incarceration was less than two years out of an 83-year life. I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth," Stewart told the newspaper.
In a statement to the Times, Cutler said, "I am really proud of this film, and I admire Martha's courage in entrusting me to make it. I'm not surprised that it's hard for her to see aspects of it."
Where to watch the Martha Stewart documentary
"Martha" is available now and streaming on Netflix.
ABC News reached out to Stewart's representative and Cutler for comment but did not immediately hear back.
