Martha Stewart reveals father ‘slapped’ her over engagement to Jewish boyfriend

Martha Stewart opens up about her relationship with her father, Edward Costira, in her new Netflix documentary.

The 83-year-old famous housewife recalled her father’s angry reaction when she got engaged to Andrew Stewart. The couple met when Martha was an undergraduate at Barnard College in New York City and Andrew was a law student at Yale University. They were founded by Martha’s classmate and Andrew’s sister.

Martha said she “fell in love” with Andrew after the first date and they got engaged soon after – which Costira was not happy about.

“I went home and told my father and my father slapped me,” she said. “Slapped me hard across the face and said, ‘No, you are not marrying him. He is a Jew.”

He added, “I remember getting that slap.” “I wasn’t surprised at all because he was a fanatic, and he was impulsive. But I said, ‘No matter what you think, I will get married.’

Martha said that her mother, nicknamed “Big Martha”, helped her create a “beautiful” wedding dress.

“The wedding day was a very happy day,” she told Andrew of their 1961 nuptials. “This was the beginning of my life.”

The former “Martha Stewart Show” host grew up in Nutley, New Jersey, as one of six children. His mother was a school teacher and his father was an unsuccessful businessman.

Martha recalled her father calling her a “perfectionist”, “Dad taught each of us how to garden. He could grow anything. I was the ideal daughter. I wanted to learn, he had a lot to teach and I heard.

“My father was the most beautiful father,” she added. “He loved me. And it was clear to everyone that I was his favorite. He thought I was more like him than other kids. He completed the work he was asked to do. His work is not work. He was unsuccessful at work.”

Martha continued, “He could do whatever he wanted and he was stuck in a salesman job. He would sometimes start the day with a large glass of coffee and red wine. So is he an alcoholic? Perhaps. But he never looked like a drunkard. He never stumbled around, threw things or broke things. He was not my father. But he was a dissatisfied, unhappy man.

Martha’s relationship with her father became more strained when she was in college and met Andrew.

“We went out for dinner. He was very polite and handsome, and he traveled a lot,” she recalled of the couple’s first date. “It was exciting to meet a sophisticated young man. And he had an American Express card, which was a big deal in those days.

“He was very interesting, playful and nice. By the end of the dinner I was madly in love,” Martha said. “Andy was great. Not like his father at all. He would send me money for train tickets and I would visit him every weekend at Yale.”

Martha also revealed that she lost her virginity to Andrew at the age of 19. “I’d never slept with anyone before,” she said. “He was very aggressive and I liked it.”

Martha and Andrew married in 1961, and four years later their daughter, Alexis Stewart, was born.

The renowned chef’s father died in 1979, while she was married to Andrew. Meanwhile, his mother died in 2007.

Martha and Andrew divorced in 1990, and Andrew later married Martha’s assistant, Robin Fairclough.

In the Netflix documentary, Martha claimed that Andrew cheated on her with Fairclough. She also alleged that she had her own affair which Andrew did not know about.

Martha said, “Young ladies, listen to my advice, if you’re married and your husband starts cheating on you, he’s screwed.” “Get out of that wedding.”

In 2020, Stewart reflected on her “terrible” divorce from Andrew and shared that the former lovers did not speak.

“Getting a divorce was a scary thing for me, because we were the first in our family to get divorced,” she said. People“And the fact that we haven’t spoken since the divorce makes it even more painful.”

‘Martha’ is streaming on Netflix.