Martha Stewart’s Fellow Inmates and Chefs Talk About Her Rise, Fall and Comeback in New CNN Miniseries (Exclusive)

Mar. 15, 2025

Martha Stewart’s CNN special explores her storied career.Photo:Gabe Ginsberg/Getty

Gabe Ginsberg/Getty

After decades in the spotlight, fans are about to seeMartha Stewartin a way they never have before.

On Jan. 28, new CNN miniseriesThe Many Lives of Martha Stewartwill explore all the phases of the lifestyle expert’s life, from the highs to the lows, and PEOPLE has the exclusive first look at the full teaser (below).

In the four, hour-long episodes, the special will depict the cookbook author’s “explosive rise to success, her staggering fall from grace, and her momentous comeback to the limelight” via archival footage and interviews, per a release. Viewers will hear from Stewart’s past employees, former inmates, fellow chefs and loved ones along with never-before-seen images of the longtime celebrity chef.

Stewart graduated from Barnard College of Columbia University.Martha Stewart/Facebook

Martha Stewart/Facebook

The former model’s career began during her time as a young stockbroker on Wall Street in the 1960s.

After breaking barriers as a woman in the financial industry, Stewart, 82, pivoted to become a caterer in Connecticut and her “career starts to take off like a rocket,” one person attests in the teaser for the CNN series.

She and ex-husband Andrew Stewart share one daughter.Arthur Schatz/Getty Images

Her success took form as she became a television personality and billionaire, assuming her role as the “original influencer,” says another interviewee in the sneak peak of the show. “There is no media personality, businesswoman, celebrity chef, like her,” another added in the trailer. Despite her success, her career took a hit 20 years ago.

Stewart served five months in prison in 2004 for conspiring with her Merrill Lynch stockbroker todeceive authoritiesprobing her December 2001 sale of stock. But, “the comeback was beginning before she ever left,” another interviewee says in the CNN special’s trailer.

The four-part series will air over two weekends with two episodes premiering on Jan. 28 and the remaining half on Feb. 4.

Stewart posed for Sports Illustrated at age 81.Ruven Afanador/Sports Illustrated

Ruven Afanador/Sports Illustrated

Part of Stewart’s continued fame and popularity comes from her lifelong modeling career, on either theSports Illustrated Swimsuitcoveror her personal Instagram account.

Most recently, she shared asteamy bathroom mirror selfieto herInstagramthat echoed hersultry pool selfiefrom July 2020. The new snapshot, which she posted Friday, showed the lifestyle guru posing in a silver nightgown.

Martha Stewart has made a habit of sharing seductive selfies to Instagram.Martha Stewart/Instagram

Martha Stewart/Instagram

Fans love the chef’s thirst traps. Stewart garnered significant attention for herJuly 2020Instagram post — so much so that she revealed during an April 2021 appearance onThe Ellen DeGeneres Showthat she received “so many proposals and so many propositions” in the weeks after the snapshot went viral.

The Many Lives of Martha Stewartpremieres on CNN Sunday, Jan. 28 at 9 p.m. ET/PT

source: people.com