Yahoo Sports Twelve Minutes With Martha Stewart
NEW YORK — Before taking the stage Wednesday night at FN’s Women Who Rock event, in partnership with Two Ten, Martha Stewart sat down with WWD to discuss what’s on her bucket list, her highly successful Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, her favorite exercise and her upcoming documentary, all in a rapid-fire 12-minute interview.
The 81-year-old Stewart got her message across loud and clear: She’s not done yet, and people at any age can still accomplish whatever they set their mind to. “There’s no early retirement,” said Stewart, who was also Footwear News’ cover story this week.
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Her appearance on the Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover generated 100 billion impressions, and Stewart hopes that all the hoopla and attention will rub off on her many businesses. After becoming the oldest woman to ever appear on a Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover, Stewart was asked what else is on her bucket list.
For starters, Stewart said she has a Netflix documentary coming about her life, which is directed and produced by R.J. Cutler, the director behind “Billie Eilish: The World’s a Little Blurry,” “Belushi,” and the film “The September Issue.” While there isn’t a release date yet, Stewart said they’ve been filming for the past two years.
She said she’s working on all her products and line extensions and is excited about her Roku TV show, which is all about gardening, cooking and entertaining and “is doing extremely well,” and her weekly podcast on iHeartMedia. “It’s very, very interesting. I’m enjoying it a lot. I interview people I’ve met and I admire and who are friends and have interesting stories,” said Stewart.
Among her most interesting guests was Nathan Myhrvold, former chief of technology at Microsoft. “He’s a brilliant, brilliant scientist and an amazing cook, and has been writing these amazing cookbooks. He’s won lots of awards,” she said. She’s also interviewed Ai Weiwei, the Chinese dissident artist, and Stephen Sills, the interior designer.
On the topic of giving back, Stewart is equally passionate. She cited the Martha Stewart Centers for Living at Mount Sinai, two locations where they offer older adults and their caregivers in New York City access to high-quality health care. She founded it 15 years ago. “It’s for over 65, you can go to my hospital and have all your questions answered and it’s extremely great geriatric care. It’s so important because the population in America is aging. By 2030, the population over 65 will be larger than under 65. Where will they be taken care of? The Martha Stewart Centers for Living. They take care of everything — medical, diet, exercise.”
As for her own exercise plan and how she got in shape for the SI cover, she said, “Right now I’ve been doing a lot of Pilates. I do it three times a week,” said Stewart, who had clear intentions on why she wanted to pose for the magazine.
“It’s actually had an extraordinary response from women everywhere in the world because they feel there are new possibilities for them. That was my objective. Other than being very glamorous and gorgeous in those pictures, it really served a very good purpose and it attracted a tremendous amount of attention for my brand. It got 100 billion impressions. You can check it out. It’s true,” said Stewart.
Whether she aspires to do any other modeling, such as runway shows during New York Fashion Week, Stewart — a former model in her youth — said, “No, we’ll see what happens.” She said the shoot in the Dominican Republic wasn’t stressful at all, and the photographs were taken by Ruven Afanador, whom she worked with in 1993 when she had her own magazine.
One area of business she’d like to expand is hospitality. Last year she opened a restaurant, The Bedford by Martha Stewart, in partnership with Caesars Entertainment, in Las Vegas. It’s a replica of Stewart’s 1925 farmhouse in Bedford, New York, with culinary inspiration drawn from her garden and love of French cooking. It seats 200 people and is “fine dining, with all my favorite recipes,” said Stewart.
Marquee Brands, which acquired Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia in 2019 (which spans publishing, internet, broadcasting, and merchandising) has expansion plans in the works. Stewart’s home products are going into JCPenney in the third quarter. “JCPenney is coming back and hopefully we’ll be able to help them in a nice way,” said Stewart.
Stewart’s business with Amazon, which began in February, “is growing,” and offers all her products ranging from kitchen and dining to bedding, furniture and fashion. She said the long-time exclusive contract with Macy’s has ended, and while they will still have product at Macy’s, Marquee is able to sell to other retailers.
While she likes luxurious things, her fashion aesthetic leans toward the casual. “I like classic styles. I love my puffer vests in every type of fabric. I love my athleisure clothes that appeal to me and all my friends on the weekends,” she said.
She believes she offers the best quality at the best price. “That’s why I’m doing Skechers. Skechers are totally affordable, totally comfortable and innovative.” When asked what brought her to Skechers, she replied, “A good contract.
“We’re growing. They’re growing. They’re number two in America now in sports footwear after Nike. And in the world, number three after Nike and Adidas. Their stock is doing extremely well, and they’re a smart bunch of people,” she said.
She still would love to have her own freestanding Martha Stewart store featuring all her products someday. “That’s been my dream. But I don’t know if that’s going to happen,” she said.
As for something that people don’t know about her, she said, “I don’t know if they know that I’m as avid a gardener as I am, and I’m building a maze that’s going to amaze in Bedford.”
Stewart recently hosted a fundraising party at her Bedford home for the Bedford Riding Lanes Association, which maintains and develops the historic system of trails and dirt roads in the Bedford and Pound Ridge areas. In fact, Stewart said one of her favorite things to do is ride horses in Bedford.
“I have five beautiful frieze horses and I ride every week on the trails in Bedford, and it’s a beautiful attraction for anybody interested in the equestrian sport,” said Stewart. A big interest of hers actually is conservation. “I’m a big supporter of Arcadia National Park [in Maine] and am a conservationist. All those things matter a lot to me,” added Stewart.
With so much conversation about how she’s not letting her age dictate her pursuits, Stewart was asked if she could be any age, what age would that be and why? “Maybe one. I could do it all over again.”
Her advice for older women who don’t feel that they’re being seen? “Go for it.” She said she was raised very well and her parents gave their children the confidence that they could do anything if they worked hard and paid attention to detail, “which is what I’ve done my whole life.”
When time was almost up and the formal presentation was about to start, Stewart was asked how she feels about AI and whether she’d like to apply it to her own business. “I have a vast amount of content that I’ve created over the last 40 years. All that content could easily be put into an AI program for the homemaker – ‘Martha, how do you clean a stove?’ – I have that content, and it can easily be done. I’m working on that too.”
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