Martha Stewart’s Ex-Husband Just Called Their Marriage ‘Painful & Abusive’ as Netflix Doc Details His Past Cheating
Martha Stewart was a familiar name to most people long before the new Netflix documentary Martha chronicled her life and her relationships. And just as people know Stewart, the lifestyle mogul, a lot of people are familiar with the fact that Stewart isn’t her actual last name, but the name she took from her first husband.
Born Martha Helen Kostyra, the famous cookbook author and media mogul married Andy Stewart at 19. She then took his name and can trace many of her accomplishments to things that happened when the two were married. In Martha, she even discusses her “eye-opening” 5-month honeymoon to Europe. Stewart said, “It did awaken in me a love of cuisine, a love of travel, a love of discovery. And I really felt, this is the thing I’d like to spend my life thinking about.”
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The two would go on to be married for almost three decades, separating in 1987 and finally divorcing in 1990. They share a daughter, Alexis, born in 1965.
But where is Andy Stewart now? Do he and Martha still keep in touch? Did he remarry after his divorce?
Where’s Martha Stewart’s husband Andy now?
According to Vanity Fair, Martha Stewart never remarried after her 1900 divorce, but Andy Stewart did. In 1993 he married Robyn Fairclough, Martha Stewart’s former assistant who Andy cheated with. After divorcing her, he married Shyla Nelson Stewart in 2016. She is the President and CEO of Fieldstone Publishing, where Andy serves as publisher emeritus.
In Martha, Stewart discusses Andy’s multiple infidelities, saying, “Young women, listen to my advice — if you’re married, and you think you’re happily married, and your husband starts to cheat on you, he’s a piece of sh*t. And look at him as a piece of sh*t and get out of it. Get out of that marriage. But I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t walk away.”
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Stewart does admit to having her own “very brief affair with a very attractive Irish man,” in the Netflix documentary, though she insists his infidelities predated hers. Despite the infidelities on both sides, she remained with Andy until he asked for a divorce after 27 years of marriage.
Andrew Stewart and his wife, Shyla Nelson Stewart, shared a statement via Facebook prior to the documentary’s release, which explained their relationship and then went on to comment on Martha. “Prior to this happy chapter of his life, Andy had some dark ones, including a painful and abusive marriage to Martha (as in, Martha Stewart), which ended almost 40 years ago,” it reads. “While Andy quietly moved on and forward with his life, it appears that Martha continues to publicly relitigate the marriage, including comments in a sensationalized trailer for an upcoming documentary on Netflix.”
“The juxtaposition of Andy’s early life with the joy-filled, purpose-led, loving marriage we live today is striking. Every day, we openly express our gratitude for our love and for our life together,” the statement also added.
During her time with Andy, Stewart would launch her lifestyle empire. She told People her home decor exploits began when she and her then-husband restored “a schoolhouse in the Berkshires.” She also began her own catering company and started writing her own cookbooks after a guest at one of the couple’s parties suggested it.
These days, as Stewart confirmed to People, she cannot speak about Andy Stewart’s whereabouts or frame of mind. “I haven’t talked to him for over 20 years. Sadly,” she said, also confirming she had “no idea” if he’d seen Martha. If he has, though, it’s likely he now found out about his former wife’s affair at the same time the rest of the world did. “I don’t think Andy ever knew about that,” Stewart says in the documentary. Now, everyone does.
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