While speaking to The Daily Beast ‘s Chief Creative and Content Officer Joanna Coles at the 2024 Retail Influencer CEO Forum, she aired some grievances about R.J. Cutler ‘s documentary about her life, specifically the second half of the film and its treatment of her “stupid trial,” which she said “was so unfair.”
Stewart was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction, and two counts of lying in 2004, leading to her spending five months in prison, five months of home confinement, and two years of supervised probation, per People .
She explained that Cutler included an interview with James Comey , who previously served as the director of the FBI before he was terminated by former president Donald Trump in 2017.
“Comey says, ‘Oh, she’s going to jail because she lied, not because she committed a crime’—some crap,” Stewart said, per The Daily Beast. “And [Cutler doesn’t put] underneath, ‘Comey was fired for lying.’”
She added, “I would, as a documentarian, put that in, so that’s the laziness part.”
Stewart also shed light on she and Cutler’s “collaboration contract,” claiming that while they “were going to be collaborators,” Cutler ultimately “had the final edit.” As noted by The Daily Beast, Stewart did not anticipate complete control, but she did anticipate more collaboration, clarifying with reference to her participation that “you shouldn’t have a final edit, [but] you should have a cooperative edit.”
Although she clarified that “the first half was great,” she noted that the documentary “doesn’t mention all [her] collaborations.”
“I’ve had so many fabulous collaborations with thousands of wonderful employees who have worked so hard [and] like-minded people that I really am proud of,” she shared. “For them not to even have a part in this—it’s not fair, I don’t think, in a story of my life. That’s what really made me, me.”
The doc debuted at 2024 Telluride Film Festival, where Stewart said she and Cutler “had to do a question-and-answer on the stage.”
Stewart’s life has remained of public interest, as the four-part docuseries titled The Many Lives of Martha Stewart was released earlier this year. Still, she teased that “there’s another chance” for her to have more autonomy over her story.
“Netflix has already asked me if I’d do another one,” she noted, per The Daily Beast.
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