Martha Stewart's Daughter Alexis Fainted in the Courtroom When She Heard Her Mom's Guilty Verdict During 2004 Trial

Mar. 15, 2025

Martha Stewart and Alexis Stewart leaving court in 2004.Photo:Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty

Peter Foley/Bloomberg via Getty

Martha Stewart’s career hit bottom after she was found guilty of obstruction and conspiracy charges related to a stock sale andsent to prison.

“Everything she was going to do was going to be perfectly perfect,” friend Kathy Tatlock says in the film. “And I think in a way, it ruined her life."

Martha Stewart when her stock IPOd.Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

It all started to come crashing down in 2001. Martha recalls taking a call during a fuel stop on a flight to Cabo, Mexico, about a friend’s biotech stock. She sold the stock and was later convicted for lying to the FBI during an insider-trading investigation in 2004.

“Guilty, guilty, guilty on all these counts of whatever,” she says inMartha. “My daughter, she fainted when they read the verdict. Poor child.”

“It was so horrifying and incomprehensible,” addsAlexis. “And then I woke up and was, unfortunately, still there.”

“Those prosecutors should have been put in a Cuisinart and turned on high,” Martha jibes. “I was a trophy for those idiots.”

Martha Stewart.Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

The stock for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia plummeted and Martha resigned from the board. She reported to Alderson Federal Prison Camp for a five-month sentencing. She estimates that she lost more than a $1 billion as a result of the scandal.

When you’re through changing, you’re throughMartha Stewart

When you’re through changing, you’re through

Martha Stewart

“It catapulted her into a younger audience,” says friend Charlotte Beers.

Snoop Dogg and Martha Stewart at the Comedy Central Roast of Justin Bieber in 2015.Christopher Polk/Getty

Shesat next to Snoop Dogg, and next thing she knew they were making Bic lighter ads and shooting a cooking show.

Marthais now streaming on Netflix.

source: people.com