Martha Stewart Cheated On Her Ex-Husband Without Him Ever Finding Out

Martha Stewart has broken quite a few rules in her day. In the trailer for her upcoming Netflix documentary, Martha, the lifestyle queen revealed that she cheated on her first husband, Andy Stewart, during their marriage—and that her ex never found out.

“Young women, listen to my advice: if you’re married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s a piece of (trash),” says the 83-year-old Stewart in the trailer. “Get out of that marriage.” A producer then chimes in with a question for the home decor maven: “Didn’t you have an affair early on?” Stewart’s reply? “Yeah, but I don’t think Andy ever knew about that.”

Stewart met her first husband Andy, at the time a Yale Law student, on a blind date. After dating for just one year, they were married in 1961. In 1965, Stewart gave birth to their daughter, Alexis Stewart. Andy would go on to receive a masters in law from Columbia and embark on a career in publishing. He’s currently Publisher Emeritus of Fieldstone Publishing, a nature publishing company.

Martha, of course, would simultaneously launch a lifestyle empire. She told People her home decor exploits began with her and Andrew “restoring a school-house in the Berkshires” on the weekends. In 1971, the couple bought a fixer-upper in Westport, Connecticut. They named the property Turkey Hill Farm; that’s where Martha kicked off her lifestyle brand in earnest.

Martha and Andrew would eventually separate in 1987. In 1990, their divorce was finalized, and three years later Andrew would marry Robyn Fairclough—Martha’s former assistant, who was 21 years younger than Andrew. Andrew and Robyn would eventually get divorced as well, and he’d go on to remarry Shyla Nelson Stewart, CEO of Fieldstone Publishing, in 2016. Martha never married again.

“Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me, because we were the first to divorce in my family,” she told People in 2020. “And that we haven’t spoken since the divorce is even more painful. But I’m very strong, and I’m very motivated to get on with life.”

In the trailer for a Netflix doc, Martha ponders about the past. “What is more important, a marriage or a career?” she asks. “I don’t know.” Some might argue that Martha cared a little too much about her business—she did, after all, serve 5 months in federal prison in the early 2000s for insider trading and fraud. Since then, Martha has become a household name once again for the right reasons, sharing lifestyle tips to her 2 million followers on Instagram and cashing in on her unlikely friendship with Snoop Dog.

It’s evident from the preview of the documentary that she has no regrets about ditching housewife life for a career. “The cookie-cutter house and the cookie-cutter life was not for me,” she says in the trailer. “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 hits Netflix on October 30th.