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Former East Hampton Resident Martha Stewart Spars With Netflix Over New Documentary: Report

A new documentary about Martha Stewart produced by Netflix has sparked the ire of the homemaking icon and longtime New York and former Connecticut resident. 

Martha Stewart. 

Martha Stewart. 

Photo Credit: Wikimedia Commons/David Shankbone

The documentary, "Martha" will be released on the popular streaming platform on Wednesday, Oct. 30. However, Stewart has already expressed her displeasure with the film ahead of its release, according to a report by OK Magazine. 

During the 2024 Retail Influencer CEO Forum, Stewart, a longtime resident of the Northern Westchester County hamlet of Katonah, called the film "lazy" and "not the story that makes me, me," the magazine reported. 

Stewart also said director R.J. Cutler "refused to change anything" even though she had a collaboration contract with the documentary, according to the outlet.

Specifically, Stewart cited the film's portrayal of her stock trading trial that led to her five-month sentence in a minimum-security federal prison in West Virginia after she was caught lying to investigators about selling her shares of the biopharmaceutical company ImClone Systems.

"It’s more about my stupid trial, which was so unfair," Stewart said of the film, according to a report by the Daily Beast. 

Although Stewart claims to not have had much control over the documentary, according to a review of the film by The Hollywood Reporter, she seems to have affected much of the project's direction: 

"Stewart isn’t a producer on Martha, and I’m sure there are things here she probably would have preferred not to bother with again at all. But at the same time, you can sense that either she’s steering the theme of the documentary or she’s giving Cutler what he needs for his own clear theme," the outlet said in its review.

According to OK Magazine, Stewart also had much to say about her former friend and television cook Ina Garten, saying that she stopped hearing from her after she was sent to prison. 

However, Garten said the two stopped talking after Stewart began spending more time at her Katonah home, the outlet added. 

Stewart, now 83, rose to fame as a globally known businesswoman and television personality and is known for her media empire which includes cookbooks, her magazine, "Martha Stewart Living," and numerous television shows, including "Martha Gardens," "Martha Cooks," and "Martha Holidays."

She is also a mother and grandmother and has previously had homes in Westport, Connecticut, and on Long Island, in East Hampton. 

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