When asked recently about Meghan Markle’s foray into the lifestyle world, Martha Stewart was gracious — mostly.
“I don’t mind. Good luck,” she told Yahoo News Australia.
She went on to praise Gwyneth Paltrow’s Goop empire as “quite an interesting body of businesses” and added, “She’s admired. She won an Oscar, for heaven’s sake, as an actress! She’s pretty powerful.”
As for Markle, Stewart’s words carried a sharper edge: “Meghan, I don’t really know very well, and I hope she knows what she’s talking about. Authenticity, to me, is everything, and to be authentic and knowledgeable about your subject matter is extremely important.”
Call it the Martha problem: we keep waiting for a new one, and she keeps reminding us she’s still here. In a career that’s stretched from catering gigs to a media empire — and a prison sentence that only seemed to make her more famous — Stewart has turned herself into something rarer than a household name: a lifestyle archetype.
Celebrities such as Paltrow, Jessica Alba and, now, Markle have followed in the footsteps of Stewart, launching their own lifestyle brands over the years. In September 2008, Paltrow launched Goop, a wellness and lifestyle brand that first began as a weekly e-mail newsletter before expanding into an e-commerce platform, a print magazine and pop-up stores. Paltrow’s Goop also touts its own podcast and Netflix specials. Despite the brand’s success, it received skepticism from Stewart, who in a 2013 interview with Bloomberg Television’s Stephanie Ruhle, encouraged Paltrow’s attempt at breaking into the lifestyle industry but asserted, “I started this whole category of lifestyle.”
Indeed, Stewart has proven time and time again that she is a domestic polymath to be reckoned with. She’s taught us how to kickstart a successful business, master the fine art of entertaining, whip up a delicious One-Pan Pasta, tend to our outdoor garden and fold a fitted sheet. Which begs the question: Can there ever be another Martha Stewart?
Stewart’s own authenticity and knowledge stems from her upbringing, professional experiences and personal love for learning. Her father, Edward Kostyra, taught her how to garden when she was three years old. Her mother, who’s also named Martha, taught her how to cook and sew. Her grandparents taught her how to make preserves and her next door neighbors, who happened to be retired bakers, taught her how to bake pies and cakes galore. Stewart has also credited Julia Child as both her inspiration and culinary mentor, saying she learned the basics of French cooking by reading and cooking every recipe in Child’s cookbook, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.”
“The original teacher for me was Julia Child. I got to meet her several times and work with her,” Stewart told Maclean’s in 2013. “She got me interested in haute cuisine. I cooked every single recipe in her two big volumes of Mastering the Art of French Cooking. Working alongside chefs like David Bouley, Daniel Boulud, Jean-Georges Vongerichten and David Chang was amazing. All of those people have been very instrumental in the kinds of foods I like to eat and like to prepare.”
After working as a stockbroker on Wall Street, Stewart started a catering business, making every one of her recipes from scratch. In 1982, she published her first book, “Entertaining,” complete with recipes and tips for hosting the perfect party. She’d later go on to publish her quarterly magazine, “Martha Stewart Living”; broadcast her syndicated show, “Martha Stewart Living TV”; sell home goods under her brand Martha Stewart Everyday and launch her media and marketing company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 1997.
That’s just a taste of Stewart’s many accomplishments. Then, in July 2020, Stewart put influencers to shame after she set Instagram ablaze with a sultry poolside selfie. In it, she gazes sultrily into the camera, making sure her frosty eyeshadow glistens. Her lips, coated in a nude lipstick, are pursed just enough to achieve the perfect pout. And her face is tilted ever so slightly to show off her sharp jawline. It’s clear Stewart knows her angles.
“I was trying to take a picture of the beautiful turquoise planter at the end of the pool, but the camera was on me, so I just snapped it,” she later told PEOPLE. “It looked so good, so I posted it. I didn’t know what a ‘thirst trap’ was, but now I do. Now I’m looking for the next thirst trap. I love doing those promiscuous, provocative things, because it’s just fun.”
Stewart has since amped up her “thirst trap” game. There’s her hair salon mirror selfie, her “unfiltered” selfie, her salacious coffee selfie (in which she wore an apron with nothing underneath as part of a Green Mountain Coffee Roasters ad) and, of course, her iconic Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover.
The sexy photos, which received both widespread hype and criticism, ushered in a new era of Stewart as a “sex symbol.” It was yet another title tacked onto her impressive and ever-growing resume, joining her most classic monikers, including “Domestic Goddess,” “Queen of Domesticity” and the “Lifestyle Mogul.”
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Stewart’s career and life have been anything but easy, but her story is ultimately a masterclass in grit, perseverance and self-efficacy.
“People don’t quite understand just how much of a visionary Stewart was and continues to be. She understood synergy long before others did; she understood the lack of barriers between different kinds of content before others did; she understood the power of the personal brand before others did,” R.J. Cutler, the director behind the documentary film “Martha,” told Netflix. “She made the world a more beautiful place, and she gave us greater access to beauty. She democratized fashion, taste, and style. She saw the future before others saw it and she always had to overcome enormous obstacles that were in her way.”
In an abundantly digital age, where influencers and celebrities can start a successful brand on the basis of their name or face or large followings, credibility and as Stewart has repeatedly said, authenticity, are rightfully called into question. And while some have launched flourishing businesses in the wellness, cooking and lifestyle spheres, no one has quite been able to achieve the same multidimensionality that Stewart did during a time when online influencing wasn’t even part of the mainstream vernacular.
“Since the beginning of her career, the ethos of Stewart’s work has been about elevating everyday experiences to live life more fully,” Salon’s Ashlie D. Stevens wrote.
Stewart will forever be the “original influencer,” meaning it will take a lot for someone to truly be the “next” Martha Stewart. Until then, the title remains hers — the original influencer, still finding her next thirst trap
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