Martha Stewart Didn't Hold Back Criticizing This Main Aspect of Her Own Netflix Documentary

Martha Stewart is never someone who holds back her opinion — it’s what makes Martha a true queen! Her authentic personality shines through whether it’s about a hot topic or something that is associated with her personal life. Now, her upcoming Netflix documentary, Martha , is on the receiving end of some criticism — she likes it, and she also hates it.

Exclusive: Martha Stewart Reveals the 'Lavish Treats' She Gives Out That Make Her a Halloween Queen

“I try not to talk publicly about the things I don’t like, [as] it’s not good business,” Stewart said at the 2024 Retail Influencer CEO Forum on Sept. 10, via The Daily Beast. However, she is reserving the right to diss the upcoming doc just a bit. “I can talk a little bit badly about that,” she added. She gave her critiques to filmmaker R.J. Cutler, but he reportedly “refused to change anything.” What does the 83-year-old lifestyle guru take issue with? Well, it’s her time in prison.

“It’s more about my stupid trial, which was so unfair,” she said on the panel. She thought it was “lazy” of Cutler to include an interview with former Manhattan U.S. Attorney and FBI Director James Comey because that chapter of her life is “not the story that makes me, me.” She felt that the filmmaker didn’t note that Comey was “fired for lying” by Donald Trump in 2017 for refusing to end the investigation into the then-president’s ties to Russia. “I would, as a documentarian, put that in, so that’s the laziness part,” she noted.

Despite the friction over the second half of the movie, she and Cutler appeared together to promote the film at the Telluride Film Festival in late August. “We had to do a question-and-answer on the stage at Telluride last week. “It was good,” she noted on the panel. “I got along with him initially.” Yet that tension might be on display in the film because The Hollywood Reporter had an interesting note in their review. “Whenever possible, Stewart tries to absent herself from being an active part of the stickier conversations by handing off correspondences and her diary from prison, letting Cutler do what he wants with those semi-revealing documents,” they wrote. It’s clear that Stewart is not a fan of talking about her prison years — and she didn’t get to edit out that part of her life, or the documentary.

Stewart seems to be unbothered in the end, though. She didn’t get her dream documentary, but it’s still a possibility. There’s another chance,” she revealed, “Netflix has already asked me if I’d do another one.”

Before you go, click here to see Martha Stewart’s life and career in photos.