I want to eat this story, it’s so delicious. I want to fry it up and dust it with powdered sugar. I want to get out a mixer and make some homemade whipped cream so I can dollop it on this story. Apparently, Martha Stewart sat down for an interview with Net-a-Porter’s Porter Magazine. Just FYI: I can’t find the original interview, so I guess Porter hasn’t released it online yet. But Page Six got some advanced quotes and OMG. Martha is DONE with all of these little girls trying to dethrone her. Queen Martha is throwing shade right and left. It’s pretty awesome.
Martha Stewart says Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow should shut up and stick to acting.
“She just needs to be quiet. She’s a movie star. If she were confident in her acting, she wouldn’t be trying to be Martha Stewart,” the domestic doyenne snipped to Net-a-Porter’s Porter magazine.
And, after Blake Lively started her own lifestyle site, Preserve, Stewart admits the “Gossip Girl” star had come to her for advice — but sidesteps making a judgment and leaves it to her senior vice president Kevin Sharkey, who says of Lively, “I don’t get the sense she’s credible. She’s enthusiastic, but she’s not credible.”
Stewart also scoffed at Sheryl Sandberg’s best-selling book “Lean In,” saying women should spend less energy fighting barriers in the workplace and be more entrepreneurial: “Too much time is spent . . . Isn’t ‘leaning in’ spending a lot of time? . . . I think being entrepreneurial is something women should strive for, rather than working up the corporate ladder.”
In the profile by Vassi Chamberlain, the queen of lifestyle branding — who served five months in jail starting in 2004 for obstructing justice during an insider trading probe of her 2001 sale of ImClone stock — also blasted Netflix series “Orange Is the New Black” as disappointing.
“They could have done that so much better. That girl” — referring to Taylor Schilling — “is not good enough, the lead actress,” Stewart grumps. “I met the real Piper [Kerman]. She was in prison either the same time or after me, and I talked to her about it.” Martha had asked to be sent to Danbury, the real-life prison on which the show’s Litchfield is based and where Kerman served 13 months beginning in 2004. But Danbury was full, and Stewart served her time in West Virginia.
Stewart, who said she used to give lectures while behind bars, expressed sympathy for her fellow female inmates. “I feel so sorry for all of them in prison. The system lets them down. It’s hideous. And I’m sorry I have not had the time or the real inclination to help, but right now, there is a huge movement against the penal system.”
To defend Martha for a moment… she is still the queen and Blake and Gwyneth are the imposters. They are trying to put their own individual spin on the whole lifestyle/cooking/artisan thing that Martha created. And if Martha wants to bitch about Gwyneth all day, every day, I’m all for it. Throwing shade at Blake is a bit trickier (because Preserve is so friggin’ dumb and yet utterly harmless), and I guess it’s good that Martha didn’t do the dirty work on Blake. Also: remember how Martha has a drone now? I’m just mentioning that because… you know, Gwyneth needs to watch her ass.
Now, to throw some shade at Martha. She sounds like a jerk. She does! I think her criticism of Gwyneth should perhaps be taken in context with her ambivalence of Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In philosophy. Martha is not looking to mentor younger women. Martha is charting a career course so that other women can follow her and appreciate the glass ceilings Martha has broken. Martha is the business unicorn and she does not want the younger women to follow in her footsteps because there can only be ONE.
I also don’t really understand her problem with Taylor Schilling or why she’s so blasé about prison reform. That being said, I wish more people would just give interviews where they bitched about everything all the time.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
OITNB is garbage though.
Read the book it’s based on.
I didn’t think that until I started watching Wentworth, it’s an Aussie series about female prisoners, it’s absolutely riveting.
Thank you! Everyone I know loves that show, so I tried to watch it and I just couldn’t stand it. The main character is so stiff as an actress. I couldn’t get into it at all and don’t understand the hype it gets.
I don’t like it either, but I did like Weeds, and the creator is the same for OISNB. They aim for the same thing, light comedies and not tuns of substance.
Totally agree. I just don’t get the hype. It is a silly show, nothing funny, and the lead actress is terrible. I just don’t get it.
I just can’t get over the fact that Martha is in her 70s yet her skin looks waay better than Goop’s.
She is the living breathing example of either picking your face or your ass as you age.
Yes, she has put on a few pounds but her face looks great.
(Some subtle lifts have probably helped, too, but kudos to her for keeping it subtle.)
You made me spew coffee with your truth about age. Well done, Suze.
OMG HAHAHAHA perfectly said!!
Hahaha omg. Nobody ever pass that golden mantra to me before. Alas, too late. My skin has gone to hell. Sad.
I think she had some work done. Goop, as far as I can tell, looks pretty natural.
Goop isn’t natural. She’s done a lot to hide her ethnicity.
Nose job, upper teeth, constant colonics, breast lift after having children – she has had some work done. She is one of those that wears alot of product/make-up in order to look “natural”.
That said, and I am no Goop fan, Martha Stewart will always be a criminal in my mind. She may have only been charged with fraud, but in the beginning there were many additional charges that were later dropped due to lack of evidence: racketeering, conspiracy, etc. That doesn’t mean they don’t think or even know she was guilty of those crimes as well. It only means they didn’t have the evidence to prove it. She was an inside trader – a cheater who was already rich, but so freakin’ greedy, she had to cheat to try to get more.
I don’t buy this woman’s products. I don’t beleive anything she says. She’s just another “me, me, me” who thinks the rules don’t apply to her and that because she’s famous, should not have been called out for her crimes.
I would have said early 60’s, 73 is surprising.
It is true. 73 She was a professional model when young. Some of those natural beauties are still beautiful when old. I think she has most likely had her jawline tightened and some laser peels. She looks great.
So does her hair.
Yes, Martha definitely has an incredibly good surgeon. The result is perfect, but not all natural. Goop on the other hand is probably pretty natural (mind you, I don’t think she really just drinks water and sleeps a lot, but I guess she sticks to non-invasive stuff), but not perfect. Also: genetics. It’s unfair but responsible for most of the aging process.
how is getting fillers natural?
Goop treats herself to “weekly” cigarettes. And by weekly, I think she means whenever the hell she feels like it. That’s not all-natural and it has taken a toll on her skin.
Martha created an empire by putting in the time and effort, at least initially, to do the hands-on work. She built her credibility with decades of magazines, television appearances, her own shows, books, products. It took time and experience. Thinking you can just throw up a website with some crappy, overpriced tips because you’re a famous actress and expect anything close to what Martha has achieved would piss me off, too.
I’ve always thought Martha was a snarky, impractical perfectionist, but she’s growing on me. At 73, go ahead and say what you really think. Be bitchy, if that’s who you are. She’s not dissing them personally. Just telling them to stick to what they know. Whatever that is.
Te he. This is hilarious.
Well, I strongly disagree. Gwyneth Paltrow is not a movie star. She’s an actress.
I don’t think all successful women need to mentor the next generation. It would be great but let’s not kid ourselves and pretend that women are better than men in that regard. However, there’s also no need to try and elevate yourself even further (she IS still the queen) by throwing shade at others who are trying to follow in your footsteps. It is some excellent shade though and since it’s directed at Goop, I can’t get mad. No, those two are no competition for Martha and no, they’re both not credible. But I get the feeling that that’s not what p*sses Martha off. She’s probably just annoyed that they haven’t had to work as hard as she did. And that I completely understand because really, what are Goop’s and Blake’s qualifications or credentials? Cupcakes???
IT AWY on this one..
I like Martha.. and she is the one that opened the door. I think she feels that they are getting it all by the easy road. She had to work for years to get established.
I’m not into the Home things like I use to be. Working takes too much time now.
I also think if Paltrow and Blake had more active acting careers they wouldn’t be all into this. I guess this is their plan B..
I don’t think it’s “plan B” at all, it’s a matter of “strike while the iron is hot”, and while these actresses have face/name recognition, they are going to cash in any way how shape or form. They all promote some consumer product and I don’t think it’s interest driven, it feels inauthentic, like snooky’s perfume line. Ugh.
@homegrrrl
I think you hit the nail on the head.
Wow, these lifestyle types do not place nice at all, do they? Goopy is insufferable and needs to be brought down a peg or twenty. Blake is on her way to Goopy status and need to be reeled in. Martha is the queen of lifestyle, but she would shiv anyone who attempted to bake a more ambitious tarte de la flambe ala mode.
It is so much fun to watch the insufferable ones bicker, pull hair, and “waller” in the mineral-enriched-muck.
You’re 100% right about Blake needing to reel it in. She’s going to kill her accessibility. I think Jessica Alba is doing it the right way. She used her celebrity at first but now it’s an established brand in itself.
Alba worked it!
I mean, I get why she would be frustrated. Basically, these actresses are acting like Martha’s entire career/life’s work is a fun little side “hobby.” Gwyneth Paltrow is giving interviews where she says that working on a film set once a year is FAR too hard and because she can’t work that hard while raising her children, she’s messing around with the lifestyle genre. I have no doubt that Martha Stewart worked very, very hard to achieve what she did- it would definitely chafe me to hear someone compare it to three months on a film set and then dismiss it as easy. And it would irritate me that my life’s work was being seen as an easy way for out-of-work actresses to stay relevant and make money, which gives forth the idea that anyone can do what Martha did/does.
I do wish that she would be more vocal about the US penal system’s need for reform, because as a woman of privilege she (like Piper Kerman) is one of the very few ex-cons who can get people to pay attention.
The only reason why women are afraid of teachig ‘the next generation’ is because they still fear for their own status. because with women ‘there can only be one’. men have less problem with educating the younger ones because there are more oportunities for them. they don’t have to fear that they automatically lose their position. patriarchal structures are the problem. at least that’s my opinion.
and what is the problem with not having had to work as hard? isn’t this the point? that things might get easier for women to achieve something? if we expect eveybody to struggle like she’s the first one, because otherwise she has not ‘earned it’, things will never move forward.
Agree with you!
The thing about Martha… it was all doable, for anyone who wanted to try. Affordable.
I know it wasn’t all her, she has a huge team, but she did her show and proved she could actually do what she says, and that goes a long way towards credibility.
Blake says she bakes (I saw her Bey beehive cake, it looked awful) but at least she is trying, I guess. Preserve is just preposterous.
Goop is a joke. So applause to Martha for calling her out.
I cannot wait to hear what Martha has to say about Reese and her attempt.
I agree. She had a huge team after she was famous, but she did a lot of the actual work on her first CT home, including the garden, and she had a successful catering business with one other woman, so she can cook. And the idea of making a beautiful, inspirational home with decorating, cooking, crafts and gardening was pretty much hers. I was around when she first became famous, and there was nothing else out there like her “lifestyle branding.” Say what you will about her, she worked her tail off to get where she is, and sacrificed a lot along the way. I can see how it would tick her off that these other women are just “look how I can choose pretty, expensive things off the internet for you!” And claim to be her.
Having said all that, it just never comes off as dignified or elegant to belittle people who are trying to be you. I guess she doesn’t care about those things. (And part of me is sort of glad she doesn’t ).
It sounds a little like someone is fearful of the competition.
Respectfully must disagree. Martha ain’t afraid of NOBODY! Especially not some pathetic upstart lame brains. This woman has been working 21 hours a day (she doesn’t sleep) for about 40 years at this game – plus she’s served time in jail!
I used to dislike Martha but I’ve done a 180 degree turn. She just calls it like she sees it. She’s still having fun. She knows everyone in the world. These chicks can’t knock her off her pedestal.
I used to live near Martha and would see her around shopping etc. She was completely down to earth. No entourage, no paparazzi, does her own gardening and cooking, waved and smiled back – gotta love that.
Martha Stewart isn’t likable. She isn’t your best friend. Martha has a somewhat cold demeanor. But her tenacious nature and nature talents made her an expert in so many things and she sure can teach. Her heyday is past but she will never be dethroned. Blake and Goop are tawdry little usurpers without the talent to do a Marthaesque project or the ability to translate the process to her loyal subjects like Queen Martha. Her plan for domestic domination was brilliant; conquer women who saw the end results of Martha’s labors who wanted to embrace the little details that denote a “lifestyle” rather than just surviving. Martha Stewart was the first person who encouraged housewives (whether they were stay at home moms, working moms and single working women, etc.) to imagine and create beauty in their homes by concentrating on the details of their housewifely duties, such as not just repainting the dining room but painting a Hudson River Valley mural that wraps around all four walls or not just making an apple cake but making an apple cake that is decorated with hand preserved edible flowers, and she showed them that anyone could do these things if they wanted. She was the equalizer among women – if you wanted to make beautiful, personalized hand towels to give your friends at Christmas Ms. Stewart was right there with you telling you exactly how to make this “good thing” in such a way that even if you didn’t have any artistic talent they would be gorgeous.
All true.
That is all quite true, but meanwhile, back in the real world – how many women actually have the time and money for all this crafty niceties – particularly single mothers? For me, while I appreciate Martha’s talent and ideas, it always struck me as a wee bit too much of extracuricular activities for ladies who lunch. That is why Goop is so insufferable – most women can’t justify spending $90 on a plain white t-shirt or $300 for a thimble-sized jar of black truffle sauce from Provence. It is the same with Martha – most women barely have the time to make an apple cake, much less one that has a hand-spun statue of the Eiffel tower on it made from orchids curated in your backyard greenhouse.
Very, very well said.
@LaurieH, Martha Stewart showed women in every walk of life that they could create beauty in their surroundings. Did most women decide to paint the mural on their dining room wall with 20 different oil paints? No, they chose something they could afford in time and money. Maybe it was making the pumpkin cookies with royal icing that looked like they came from a professional bakery or creating the personalized handkerchief with a hand-stitch monogram or hunting for unique buttons at Saturday yard sales to display in jars, etc. Or maybe a woman who had no extra money and not much time would choose to learn how to fold napkins in an artistic way. Ms. Stewart’s projects ranged from free to thousands of dollars but there really was something for just about everyone. It was fun to read in her magazine about how to do a project or watch her on TV complete projects, even if the projects weren’t applicable to your situation, because it might inspire you in another direction.
Laurieh
I’m in no position to argue either way about the time available to mothers, single or otherwise. But the rest of us aren’t dismissable as ‘ladies who lunch’!
I’ve never felt Martha to be misleading about what she promotes, she doesn’t shove privilege in my face, and I don’t feel disenfranchised due to my having a very paltry income; au contraire, it’s all presented in a way to make one enjoy rather than envy: it’s not all fripperies and spun sugar, it’s about excellence rather than expenditure, so I find it enlightening.
. I like the fact that assumptions about her readers aren’t evident, unlike a wannabe mag such as Real Simple with its relentless ‘moms’.
But the thing I dig most about the monthly magazine is the vision of the USA it affords me. The beautiful country I don’t see in movies; the fascinating makers and farmers and builders…..and all pointed out to me by a woman in her 70s who’s eager to keep discovering and passing it on.
I know I should get out more, but honest to god Martha’s brought me enormous pleasure and inspiration over 25 years now, like no-one else in such media.
Absolutely true. Goop is weird and unattainable, and that’s her whole schtick. Martha – well you can get her brand at Michael’s for less than 10 bucks.
ALL HAIL MARTHA
I hate when women don’t support other women.
I don’t agree. I’m not going to automatically support a person based on gender or anything else (race, nationality, religion). Doing that takes away my right to think for myself and come to my own conclusions. Not to throw shade at you personally but I don’t agree.
Me too Meredith
It reminds me of that riposte to “My country, right or wrong” :
“My mother, drunk or sober” 🙂
Speaking of support: that top photo. The ‘girls’ need more support.
Yep. Yep. Yep. Hoist the ladies, Martha.
You can’t see it in that pic, but in the long shot, that dress Martha’s wearing is above the knee. She has great gams.
I think maybe the top slipped down below where it was supposed to be, or, something…
I don’t necessarily think women are obligated to support other women, full stop. But I hate, hate, hate when women are told to “be quiet”. Why not just articulate what you disagree with rather than imply another women should just shut up?
I hate when women make up ridiculous reasons to rip another woman to shreds. Like, when it’s announced some starlet is starting a business and the first knee jerk reaction is “she’s a ho and her ass is big” instead of appreciating that a woman is using her brains instead of her boobs to try to make a sustainable longterm career for herself. I don’t understand how that’s not commendable.
I feel bad for Blake and I feel like everyone is just waiting with bated breath for her to go belly up on her project and I don’t really get why? Why do we want so badly for her to fail? Why is that a “good thing?” I hope she sticks to it, but it feels like she’s pandering to the critics and letting the criticism get to her. She should stop acknowledging all of it in both her site messages and her Editor’s Letters. Like, immediately, just stop it. It looks really bad and it’s giving the critics exactly what they want. She needs to let her branding do the talking for her. Period.
As for Martha – as an entrepreneur myself, I totally get where she’s coming from. However, Martha is an indisputable icon. The copying at this stage in her career only enlivens her brand and reminds people that she did it first. Try dealing with this crap when you’re just starting to make a name for yourself and you’re surrounded by people who pretend to be your friend, pick your brain, and then think nothing of stabbing you in the back for the sake of “me, too!”
Yep, that is why you keep your mouth shut about anything you are doing to create something distinctive.
I don’t agree either. We can disagree with each other without being bitchy. However, Martha knows from where she speaks and is more than entitled to her opinion on this subject.
When Martha tells you to sit down and STFU, you listen. I think people who try and emulate Martha often forget (or lack the knowledge) that Martha is a terrific teacher – what she does best is to instruct. (If Martha had been a nun, she would have been Mother Superior.)
Yeah, I prefer Martha. Martha is right about Gwyn and her “acting” career.
I am waiting to see what shade Goop throws back at Martha. Because you know Goop is knocking back glasses of unicorn tears on ice and tearing through bags of kale chips in a fury. Don’t mess with The Goop
Nah, Martha’s just projecting her own insecurities on Goop’s Indian Cotton 4000 thread count pristine ecru canvas. Martha doesn’t know her, so Goop ain’t bovvered.
Former model Martha Stewart is tiresome with her non stop catting on this IMO
Really, who could ever have expected that the doyenne of high style living could ever be able to legitimately speak to the reality of life for female prisoners and comment on OITNB as an former insider? And admit at the same time to not having had the inclination to help. Way to be weirdly, and yet refreshingly, honest, Martha.
She makes a very, very good point that an entrepreneurial focus offers woman greater opportunities than the corporate world.
My favourite line from Martha’s Entertaining book is “When I was incarcerated……….”.
I love her books for the same reason Chris does….pretty pictures of the gorgeous American landscape and some old traditions still being followed. I know I’ll never live in a house that resembles any of hers but I can cook the food and I can arrange the flowers…..and, thanks to her, I can recreate a white Christmas in my Antipodean home. Alas, I can’t afford to fill my house with peonies but that’s not Martha’s fault.
I used to like Carolyne Roehm’s earlier books but she lost me when she became enamoured of occasions like the Hunt Ball…….hilariously featuring pictures of braying men dressed in costumes that have no place outside the English Shires. Her gardens are beautiful, tho.
I get that Martha is the queen of home living and all, but calm yo tits.
People are multi dimensional and are going to have more interests than just acting. Which is why you see some people take on directing, producing, writing as well. So if Goop or Blake want to start writing newsletters or convincing people to buy plain white shirts for $200 then let them.
I agree- many people have second careers or other interests that they turn into a business. Even Martha herself- remember she did a talk show thing for a while? If she wants to criticize their products or taste, go for it, but if it’s simply because they had a different career first that’s not good.
Her comments on the prison system are interesting- she feel sorry for them and they’ve been let down by the system, but… she doesn’t really care enough to actually do anything.
I think her issue is that most people who legitimately build that second career do so based on actually cultivating a skill. Model Martha did just use her name and then recommend expensive “lifestyle” type things based on non-expertise; Martha gained and honed her skills and used those to build her empire with a credible claim to expertise.
ol cranky,
Yeah, but gwyneth definitely doesn’t play like she comes up with all of this stuff on her own- she has a team. Also, if she’s tackling spiritual questions she asks rabbis, priests, etc., if she’s talking fashion she asks designers, stylists, etc. She really doesn’t pretend to be a professional.
I agree too. She’s proven to be the queen of home and crafts so i don’t know why she has to put down other people who wants to be like her. It’s not like Goop or Lively is any close to beating her empire. She should be giving advices to the new and younger generations about how to make their blogs successful.
Yes, I don’t get why she should be bent out of shape about these other women looking to open a new chapter, career-wise. Didn’t she herself start out in the financial sector before her “lifestyle guru” incarnation? She seems unnecessarily harsh about that.
lucy2, I was taken aback at her comment about not having the inclination to do anything to try to help right the wrongs in the prison system that she witnessed. That’s indeed candid and honest, but pretty cold.
Oh Martha. I would say that Martha has earned the right to say snide things about copycats and faux lifestyle gurus. However, I think when you get to a certain point or level of success, you shouldn’t. Stay classy and just don’t say anything.
I can’t help laughing though at the comment pointed at Goop. I’m wicked. I still like Martha.
Yeah, as much as I relish the shade, it would be better if Martha would front like she didn’t even know about GOOP. Why give Gwynnie the pleasure of acknowledging her? She’ll assume it means that Martha feels threatened. And is projecting.
I agree with you. She is way above goop to comment on goop. Lively is really young and after many years doing it, who knows? She may be one really good at it.
I couldn’t help myself but laugh at the shade she gave.
I dig Martha so much I let this pass, though generally I’d say ‘rise above it’.
She does look great, doesn’t she? None of Tom Wolfe’s ‘social x-ray’ scrawniness for her.
(In an attempt to get with it, I watched ‘Seven’ last night. Jeez Goop looked so much better without that extreme tan, and with a cool ash, rather than yellow, blonde barnet.)
I bought the magazine and when I read it I thought Martha made an amazing point about entrepreneurship and women. So many of my generation (aka one 15 years behind Martha) bought the whole lean in thing and have been here leaning in and climbing the corporate ladder for a long time. I think she really hit it on the head, it would likely have been far smarter to start our own thing.
I’d love to be a fly on the wall (as if) to overhear Kevin Sharkey and his bosom pal Alexis Stewart having a good snarkfest about Goop and UnLively!
I’ve met Martha Stewart and can confirm she is indeed a jerk of the highest calibre.
LOL, my first husband was from Westport, CT, where she was known to be same. I admire her in many ways, but I would never, ever want to meet or work with her.
Goop may be a joke to most of us, but she is very successful with her website and books. So Martha´s shade that Paltrow should be “quiet and stop copying her” sounds just bitchy and not justified. Just because one is an actress/actor doesn´t mean she/he can´t do something other. People have more than just one talent or interest.
Everytime Martha shades other women who try this better living-stuff I think she feels threatened by other, younger women becoming succesful in “her” field.
And “women should spend less energy fighting barriers in the workplace and be more entrepreneurial…”… Agree, we need more female entrepreneurs. But the first part sounds as if female managers who work their asses off in male domains should quit and open little bakeries. Leaving the top (male dominated) positions for men.
Her books possibly, don’t really know, but wasn’t it just revealed recently that her website is over $1 million in debt?
Yes, but that was probably a legal way for tax evasion.
In a way, maybe not opening little bakeries, but through being creative and entrepreneurial, women will create more spaces and will probably hire more women.
I understand what she says, as earning that same respect and opportunities through a different path.
She’s done a great job creating an empire built around having the perfect home, cooking the perfect meals, creating the perfect garden, doing perfect crafts, but her wanton lust for power ruined her marriage, many friendships, even her daughter is terrified of her. She’s like the Anna Wintour of the lifestyle world.
Personally I will never forgive her for deliberately showing up Julia Child in one of her last TV appearances – they made a Crockenbush dessert with a spun sugar topping. Julia’s (who was in her 90s at the time) wasn’t nearly as big and frothy as Martha’s but the supercilious, sh*t-eating grin on Martha’s face just screamed “I bested Julia Child!! Yayyy meeee!!!”
A horrible thing to do. Cow.
It had been so long since thinking about her, it took half the comments before recalling how horrible a reputation Martha used to have. Notoriously horrible, win an award for the cattiest outmaneuver of the week, horrible. I looked up Julia Child/Martha Stewart on youtube and though I didn’t find a clip on the upstaging, Martha payed a certain amount of proper reverence to Julia down the line.
As a kid, Julia was the one I always turned the channel on because she wasn’t Sesame Street or a cartoon but today I learned how to make a better breakfast egg. Lol Funny how priorities change. 🙂
Gwyneth will never be Martha, no matter how much she tries. She has some good recipes, but that’s about it. She’s just not on Martha’s level and she is not easy to like.
I do think that Martha actually likes Blake. I like Blake. But she’s also no Martha.
I don’t get her dig at Taylor Schilling though. Taylor is acting the part as it’s written.
Frankly, I don’t like either woman. Both are elitist jerks. Back in the early 90’s, someone gave me a Martha Stewart cookbook as a gift. Every single recipe included at least one obscure ingredient you never heard of or had any hope of finding. The funniest was a recipe that called for fresh lawn clippings. Really?! Yes, Goop is Martha-esque. Then again, so is the Williams-Sonoma catalog. All of it drips pretentiousness. Martha may fashion herself the original, though to me she is more the Westport version of Betty White’s “Happy Homemaker” Sue Ann Nivens.
Yes, but Goop’s lawn clippings would never come from our peasant suburban sod, it would be some unheard of specimen of exotic grass. I’d like to add more detail along the lines of what she would say but I dug deep and still can’t find that level of pretentiousness.
edible grass of course!
That wasn’t shade… she said what she had to say! Haha
I feel for Blake though… she really does idolize Martha and it’s just mean to crap on her.
Martha has only two options, for answering the same questions about the little “movie girls” who are all fighting for their “Life Style Brand”. Either give the same bland answer (and say nothing of interest). Or let her state exactly what is on her mind.
And there is nothing better, than a cranky Martha Stewart, replying about all the new phony, wanna be Home Life Style guru’s.
If Martha really did throw that fantastic answer out there, about Goop. She had a reason.
Like Goop being stupid enough to be sh*t talking and it got back to Martha.
Gwyneth is not a very bright girl. And really should not get into a girl fight of catty remarks in public with cranky… and well educated with her double major from Barnard…. Martha Stewart.
GOOPY at least has a good site. She has a lot of great recipes and easy to navigate. Her clothes are not for my budget,except some of her tees and blouses that might be classics to last for years, but at least they are presented in a way to navigate and see easily.
Preserve is horrific. It is just a mess. There are no words for her site and how it’s presented or even most of her clothes on there look like they came from from cheap store and the prices are crazy for some of that crap. There are a few good outfits, but many after looking at, I thought I was on a joke site at first. She did have some nice necklaces and such on there.
She tried to make her site so artisty feeling that it just backfired and you have no desire to go back on ever again, and the second time, I clocked out fairly quickly after looking around to see if it was any better. She needs a new website designer.
I agree. GOOP’s site is good. I have both cool books. Have been completely happy with everything I’ve made from them too.
I think Martha needs to shut it. Or do I not count since I’m just a peasant who actually likes Gwyneth *gasp*!
I just looked at preserve. My god, the writing is ridiculous. Overly dramatic, trying so hard to appear pure, genuine, at one with the earth. Which all backfires. Even their philanthropy page made me elicit an audible ‘ugh’. It is like a group of not-too-smart, rich high school girls got together and started a site with their parents’ money. Imitation with no originality or soul.
Goop needs a new hairstyle. Volume and texture would soften her face. See Diane Sawyer or Michelle Pfeiffer.
Dame Martha declared: “And I’m sorry I have not had the time or the real inclination to help, but right now, there is a huge movement against the penal system.”
My side’s are hurting from laughing at her frank acknowledgement of having NO INCLINATION to work on reforming the penal system on women’s behaves. CTFU! LOL
She has some serious balls to admit it so nonchalantly. My mind awed because I couldn’t believe she said it aloud.
I also marvel at her candidness. Honesty is something the other two are lacking for sure.
Good for her. I’m fed up to the back teeth with all that touchy-feely, “make every cause my own” nonsense.
I don’t know why Martha is poking particularly at Goop. Martha may have been the first “lifestyle guru” but an entire industry has sprung up around this and Goop is just one of hundreds that hopped on the bandwagon. Martha may have invented the industry but, despite making millions off it still, she’s pretty irrelevant and has-been. What a nasty piece of work.
I hardly think Martha Stewart invented the concept of women creatively making their houses a home. I am pretty sure that’s been done by wealthy women – like Martha – for centuries. What Martha did is figured out a way to make money from it. She didn’t invent the wheel. What I love, though, is that she took a patriarchal concept – that a woman’s place is in the home and that her job is to make that home a showpiece to impress others – and turned it ino a cottage industry that made her millions. What I don’t like is her sniping about others following suit. I am pretty sure Julia Child was in the kitchen and publishing books before Martha. If Goop and Blake are not as good at it as Martha, the market will bear that out (keeping in mind that Martha Stewart, Inc. is millions in debt, so….). The fact is that all 3 of these women are selling a paternalistic fantasy that most women either A) have no inclination to follow; B) haven’t the financial resources to follow; and/or C) haven’t the time to follow.
I also am laughing at her comment about having no inclination to help. It’s so honest and appalling. It’s like: “Yes, it’s quite a terrible problem that I sort of wish I could care about” (said in a Dowager Countess voice).
It’s refreshing! It beats all the sentimental hypocrisy out there, where people pretend to care but really couldn’t care less.
Amen Martha, now just join her please.
She would have been so much classier if she had ignored the copiers. This is an entertaining read, but she doesn’t have to be so witchy.
We all know Martha is THE original. She is far and away more successful than her imposters. She really didn’t need to say anything at all because they aren’t competition. While I’m all for people speaking the truth I don’t see the point in putting down Blake or Gwyneth. As for being a mentor, I don’t think it matters if the women are entrepreneurial or climbing the corporate ladder. Either way women should support each other in trying to be successful in their chosen profession IMO. It’s not cool to tear someone down just because you are at the top. She is kind of being a jerk in that respect. And as for the penal system comments, I’m also confused why she doesn’t try to help if she thinks change needs to be made. She’s in the perfect position to try and do so.
First, I am glad that Martha threw shade at Sheryl Sandberg. Her book “lean in” is an absolute joke. The only persons Ms. Sandberg has leaned on have been men in power like Mr. A-hole himself Larry Summers. Mr. Summers if you will recall was President of Harvard and had to step down when he told female professors in the Science departments that maybe there weren’t more women in the fields because they weren’t as innately good in those fields as men. Ms. Sandberg recently said that Facebook needs to hire more female executives. If she had been creating support networks throughout her career and offering opportunities to young women, she wouldn’t need to make such a statement. She would simply gather together her list and start making calls and making new hires. I don’t think that Martha is afraid of women pursuing similar careers to her own. It is when women don’t do the hard works and simply want to piggyback on someone else’s coattails. Martha has been at this since 1975. Her book Weddings came out in 1983. This has been a long time coming
I wish Martha could find it in herself to offer more encouragement to young women… but I love her authenticity and tips about entrepreneurialism. She’s right about Sheryl Sandberg’s stupid idea that “a truly equal world would be one where women ran half our countries and companies and men ran half our homes.” That’s a ridiculous premise, half of the women I know don’t even share those interests. Martha is, and always has been, a pioneer and a ball buster and anti-social and she doesn’t pretend to be anything else. And the fact that she did her time without a lot of public whining and self-pity (and left prison wearing a poncho that was handmade by one of the other inmates) makes her a grande dame in my book.
Absolutely! She really is a grande dame.
Martha is Queen Bee of the Living Arts and a super uncomfortable truth teller. Yeah, she could be “nicer” but I understand where she’s coming from.
For YEARS in the eighties and nineties she slogged the catering circuit, slept five hours a night to get up and build Turkey Farm into her masterpiece, showed up on local television to do cooking shows, and, in general, worked her ass off to build her brand. She didn’t swoop in from another arena and hire minions to build a website. She didn’t announce that she just adored baking and was going to dip her toe into the home comforts pond.
She worked like a demon and she is the original. So, nice, no. Discreet and classy? Well, not in this case. Right? Yes, I would say so.
@Suze You and ol cranky upthread have both hit on what I perceive is the real reason behind Martha’s hostility toward GOOP (and slightly towards Blake Lively). Sure, Martha was a model when she was young but she wasn’t a big name in modeling so it wasn’t really a factor when she built her “home arts” (or whatever you want to call it) empire from the ground up. She did not have that name recognition to propel her business forward like Blake and Gwyneth do.
I honestly think this is more about background than anything else. Gwyneth is from a wealthy Hollywood family who used a letter of recommendation from family friend Michael Douglas in order to get into college because her grades were so awful. Blake also comes from an acting family, although I’m guessing not nearly as wealthy as the Danner-Paltrows. But at least 2 of Blake’s older siblings are recognizable and still remembered because of acting roles they had in the 80s. Martha, in contrast, comes from a middle class New Jersey family who used her modeling jobs to pay for her college tuition. Her bio says that she started working at 10 as a babysitter to the kids of the New York Yankees.
Martha has been doing her thing since at least the 70s and hustled her way up from the very beginning. But in Gwyneth and Blake’s case, these lifestyle company ventures of theirs seem little more than an expensive hobby for two wealthy and bored not-too-highly-in-demand actresses.
Martha Stewart DOES see Goop and Blake as competition. She’s had some exclusive contracts with retailers bomb due to incoming actresses and other “talentless” (in her mind) people encroaching on “her’ territory. Her big deal with Kmart was basically usurped by Jacqueline Smith, and later Sophia Vergara. Her linens and housewares at Macys couldn’t withstand the economic crisis (or the Imclone crisis), so she tried to get into Home Depot with paints and fixer upper crap, and JC Pennys with window treatments, but ended up in court instead. The market is already saturated with Rachel Rays, Paula Deens, even Adam Levines. Seeing Goop or Reece pretending they’re an expert on everything has got to burn her to no end. Oprah ruined her magazine foray too. That is the basic problem, while she’s hemorrhaging money, and backstabbing everyone who crosses her, she is at the heart of it a very unlikeable person. Goop sets herself up for attack by copying The Queen but maybe it’s because of her that everyone gets their undies in a bundle about rich ladies telling them how to live. In my mind, there’s nothing worse than a phony rich lady using another for some cheap publicity. Pot meet kettle.
But Jaclyn Smith has been with KMart at least 15 yrs. It was Martha who was the interloper .
Martha and Gwyneth. In a room. 25 pies. Lock the doors. Hidden cameras. GO!!!
You made me laugh!
@Santolina. Or how about, they are in a room with two ovens, six dozen cage-free organic eggs, flour, sugar, unsalted butter, salt, corn starch, agar, blueberries, rhubarb, strawberries, pumpkin filling (which is, in actuality, canned butternut squash), creme fraiche, cream (for whipping), graham cracker crumbs, and fifty pie tins, and whoever can make twenty-five of the most delicious, beautiful pies in an hour and smash them in the others’ face the fastest in a violent taste test wins, MasterChef style?
No doubt, lots of people would tune in to see Martha take on all comers in that sort of reality TV/MasterChef format. And you can bet she’d do anything to win…
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2043375/New-book-Martha-Stewarts-daughter-reveals-childhood-domestic-bliss.html
Having not read the interview in its entirety, I assume Martha was asked her opinion of the actresses’ lifestyle websites, etc. She gave an honest answer instead of kissing ass. She doesn’t suffer fools gladly and I love her for that.
Anyone here recall the neighborhood feud Martha got into and pinned her neighbor’s gardener to the fence gate with her vehicle? You don’t mess with Martha! I really respect her she’s an authentic bad ass-and she served her prison time without endless appeals,celebrity temper tantrums,etc. she used to model in her younger years-she’s got heaps of talent-is she warm and fuzzy? Hell no and I kind of prefer that vs Goop
Same here. And Martha really has experience with the things she promotes in her magazines. Cooking, recipes, sewing, crafts, home decorating – she has hands -on experience with these things. Goop does not. Goop has always had someone do these things for her.
“That being said, I wish more people would just give interviews where they bitched about everything all the time.”
YES! Like JLO’s Movieline interview from back in the day, that was just delicious!
Martha Stewart is such an unpleasant woman. Does she like anyone or anything other than herself?
She likes her chow chows. The perfect dog for her, in my opinion. Big, nasty, and unpredictably aggressive.
God, to slag the prison system and then note that you don’t have the inclination to do anything about it … keep raking in those Benjamins, Martha. Whoever has the most, wins, I guess?
To me, Martha Stewart is like Julia Child- they were the originals, the first women to get on tv and show Americans that french cooking or home design weren’t that difficult. They changed the way that people looked at making dinner or putting together a home.
Martha is looking at the people coming up behind her, the lifestyle/home design bloggers and celebrities, and she’s chosen to be pissed about the actresses. Makes sense- she can’t disrespect or even hate on the people with design degrees who turned themselves into a business (ie. Nate Berkus), and the amateurs who are passionate and churning out their personal blogs are basically doing today’s version of what she did. But the actresses- she can hate on them, because they’re jumping to the head of the line without any of the work, education or talent to back it up. They’re using their acting fame as a gimmick to sell lifestyle.
I mean, how would Julia Child respond to someone like Guy Fieri?
Very true. Julia would squish Guy Fieri like a bug under her shoe. It was reported that she wanted nothing to do with the “Julie” half of “Julie and Julia” because she was so amateurish and appalling (and I think she was right). I’d think she would put a lot of those Food Network “stars” in the same category.
I agree with Martha: Goop needs to cop a squat and shut it. Firmly.
While I’m no fan of Goopy Blake, Martha doesn’t hold a monopoly on cake baking and Halloween decorating.
She doesn’t claim to hold a monopoly. But she’s done very well in this area.
Her excellence doesn’t mean that no one else can touch decorating. Plenty of room for everybody, failures as well.
Martha actively promotes many up and coming artisans both o. Her show and in her magazine. She also has a made in America store on eBay for items she loves made by small manufacturers and vendors here. Many a small vendor has built a name for themselves and seen their product take off with a Martha Stewart promotion
I’m confused because for Martha’s ice bucket challenge she nominated ‘domestic goddess’ Gwyneth Paltrow. Kind of two-faced of Martha in my opinion.
If you were marooned on a desert island with MS, you wouldn’t turn your back on Stewart for a second! But she’d probably hunt down a shark barehanded and keep you fed (if you proved useful to her).
She’s just defending her brand. Plus it was Lively who brought Stewart into the convo in the first place, when she was trying to get some media attention for her site. Bad move, I think.
MS’s comments on Sandberg are spot on. I admire entrepreneurs much more than the cogs. Plus Lean In was one of the dullest books, ever.
Martha’s Martha, she’s always been a tough, opinionated cookie no matter how many doilies she makes. She’s right, all the actresses should stick to Hollywood, there is only one Martha and she’s covered it all. I don’t see the point in GP or Blake, Martha knows her stuff or she hires people who know their stuff. I don’t want recommendations from actresses who know nothing about anything and frankly seem elitist and stupid. Their lifestyle doesn’t appeal to me. If I want to jump on the latest silly fad, I don’t need GP or Blake pointing the way.
Martha does not give a hoot what other people think. And that is fine by me. Joan Rivers was the same. Very refreshing, very real, honest. What a change from Hollywood. Fake relationships, fake babies, fake money. Martha is real as apple pie and prison bars. She’s done it all. More power to her.
Behind all this is fear of competition. I don’t care about any of these ‘style authorities’, but I simply don’t like successful women throwing mud at other women for trying to be successful with whatever in their own right. And why would an actress, generally speaking, not be interested in something else, or try something else? Martha Stewart should leave it to the customer to decide. If she was so convinced about the quality of her own work, she could afford some well-wishing comments. Besides, neither Gwynnie, nor Blake ever stated to step into her footsteps. And no, Martha didn’t ‘cover it all’, @Bob Loblaw, evolution is not stopping because Stewart would like that 🙂 Whatever the quality of the ventures of Paltrow, or Lively, they have the right to explore new areas of interest, like we all do. With, or without Martha’s blessings.
I think it’s sad that a woman her age, with all accomplishments and societal status, still needs to engage in such petty, immature antics. A mature secure woman wouldn’t go there. Her comments reveal a sad insecure jealous woman.
I think it’s strategic and prescheduled like a blog post. You can guarantee you’ll read a Martha bitch fest every other month. She knows controversy sells.
I can understand her not wanting to mentor these women. Martha’s empire was built from nothing. She grew up middle class, didn’t she? She worked hard and discovered her talents and turned that into her empire. It wouldn’t surprise me at all if her hackles are up at this new generation of rich girls who have money enough to buy “taste” and think that is all it takes to be the next Martha.
The rise of the mocktress and the lifestyle-star coincides exactly with the decline of actor salaries. Yes, they still make insane money for playing dress-up, but on average, actors make less than they did six years ago. It’s no coincidence that stars started diversifying at the same time. I don’t think it’s fair to say that they all start different entrepreneurial endeavors when their acting careers fail. Goop doesn’t make a great movie every time, but she got in on the ground floor with Marvel and she’s made some decent indie movies over the last few years. Her cookbooks are successful and while I do question how much she actually makes from Goop, between book sales and appearance fees, she’s got a nice second income that allows her to not work so hard on booking acting gigs. That’s the choice now, either you make twice as many movies as you would have done ten years ago, or you branch out and find a second source of income.
I think Goop (and Preserve) is dumb, but that’s just because the hipster/artisinal thing is not my style. I’m not into the preppy Connecticut/Hamptons thing like them, but if Kristen Stewart started a tequila company or Helena Bonham Carter started selling handmade hats, I’d be all over it. (By the way, why don’t we judge all the actors who have dumb liquor brands?)
I like how MS criticizes GP and BL in one breath and then says women should be more entrepreneurial. Isn’t that what GP and BL are doing? I know they are not working up from the bottom, but seriously.
I like goop.com. I could care less that is expensive stuff; I am not buying it, just amusing myself, like I would watching lifestyles of the rich and famous. Wish I could find that show somewhere these days!