Inside Martha Stewart and Ex Andy Stewart's Rocky Marriage
Martha Stewart and ex-husband Andrew Stewart were married for nearly 30 years — but their union was riddled with drama.
The homemaking legend spilled all the tea in her comprehensive Netflix documentary Martha , which was released in October 2024.
In the documentary, the Martha Stewart Living founder revealed that she first met Andrew when she was 19, and lost her virginity to him.
"He was very aggressive and I liked it," she recalled.
While she may have enjoyed that aspect of their romance, things quickly soured. Martha admitted in the documentary that she was unfaithful to Andy early on in their marriage — so early on, in fact, it was on their honeymoon.
During Martha and Andrew's honeymoon in 1961, Martha recalled visiting a Cathedral alone in Florence, Italy, as Andrew didn't want to go with her. While in the cathedral, she met a man, with whom she shared a kiss. However, she described the kiss as more "emotional" and claimed it was "neither naughty or unfaithful."
"He was emotional, I was emotional," said Martha, who shares daughter Alexis with her ex-husband. "It's just because it was an emotional place. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced. An expansive dome so beautiful and paintings all around you. It was like nothing I had ever done before. And so why not kiss a stranger?"
Martha later described another affair with "a very attractive Irish man," which she claimed Andrew didn't know about, though some voices off-camera say that he did.
"It was nothing," said Martha of the aforementioned affair. "In terms of I would have never broken up a marriage for it. It was nothing. It was like the kiss in the cathedral."
According to a voice off-camera, Andrew — who had cheating scandals of his own in his marriage to Martha — "didn't stray" from the marriage until he learned that Martha had, which she said isn't true.
As for Martha's allegations that Andrew cheated on her multiple times, she claimed that he left her for one of her employees: Robyn Fairclough, who was living on one of Martha's properties at the time.
"Robyn worked for me and she lost her apartment or something and I said, 'Oh you could move into the barn on the lower two acres.' We had a little apartment down there," Martha recalled. "And when I was traveling, Andy started up with her. It was like I put out a snack for Andy."
Martha eventually learned of Andrew's infidelity and kicked Fairclough out of their home. Andrew ultimately left Martha — the pair finalized their divorce in 1993 — and went on to wed Fairclough in 1993. The two eventually divorced, and Andrew has since been married to Shyla Nelson Stewart, a publishing executive, since around 2016.
At one point of the documentary, Martha offers some advice to young women — and she didn't mince words when it came to Andrew's infidelity "If you're married and your husband starts to cheat on you, he's a piece of s**t. Get out of that marriage," she advised.
Shyla, for her part, has voiced her opinion one Martha's claims — and she didn't hold back.
Back in October, after the trailer for Martha dropped, Shyla took to Facebook and described Andrew's marriage to Martha as "abusive." The post has since resurfaced following the premiere of the documentary.
"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," said Shyla.
"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," Shyla wrote. "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."
Shyla ended the post, offering well wishes to readers, and perhaps some subtle shade to Martha.
"We both wish everyone, including Martha herself, the experience of loving and being loved deeply and fully, and the peace that comes from such a love," Shyla said.
Martha's 2024 confessions about her marriage is perhaps the most she has spoken on the subject in recent memory.
