Martha Stewart and Ina Garten have differing opinions on why their decades-long friendship ended.
The New Yorker published a profile of Garten earlier this month in which the pair explained why they lost contact: According to Stewart, Garten cut ties with her after Stewart was sentenced to prison.
“When I was sent to Alderson Prison, she stopped speaking to me,” Stewart explained. “I found that very distressing and very unfriendly.”
Martha Stewart says Ina Garten “stopped speaking to her” after she went to prison. (Getty Images)
Although Stewart has always maintained his innocence, he was convicted of conspiracy, obstruction and two counts of lying to investigators in a 2004 insider trading scandal and sentenced to five months in prison, five months of house arrest and two years of probation.
Martha Stewart (81) appears on the cover of Sports Illustrated in a daring swimsuit
Garten disputes Stewart's recollection of their relationship as bad, telling The New Yorker that things got worse between her and Stewart after Stewart started spending time at Garten's new Bedford, New York, home.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for Stewart has backed up the culinary star's original statement, insisting that she holds “no hard feelings” following their falling out.
“When I was sent to Alderson Prison she stopped speaking to me. I found that very sad and very unfriendly.”
“There's no feud,” Susan Magrino told The New Yorker.
The pair's history goes back decades: Stewart first met Garten when she stopped by Garten's store, Barefoot Contessa, in East Hampton, New York, in the '90s.
Stewart served five months in prison for an insider trading scandal in 2004. (Mike Coppola/Getty Images, courtesy of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit)
Garten previously recalled her first interaction with Stewart.
“My desk was right in front of the cheese section, so we got into a conversation,” she told Time magazine in 2017. “We ended up doing a charity event together at her house, and I was in charge of catering, and we've been friends ever since.”
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Stewart introduced Gartner to an editor and helped her publish a cookbook called “The Barefoot Contessa.” In 1999, Gartner co-starred with Stewart on an episode of “Martha Stewart Living.”
Aina Garten first met Martha Stewart in the '90s. (Nathan Congleton/NBCU Photobank/NBCUniversal via Getty Images)
Garten appeared on the Food Network cooking show “Barefoot Contessa” from 2002 to 2021.
Garten and Stewart have faced rumors of a rift between them over the years. In a 2017 interview with Time magazine, Garten was full of praise for Stewart.
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“I think she did something really important, which was take something that wasn't valued before – the home arts – and elevated it to a level that people could be proud of and completely changed the landscape,” she said.
Aina Garten has previously credited Martha Stewart with helping her career. (Gabe Ginsburg/Getty Images)
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“Then I went on my own path. I'm not a trained professional chef. Cooking is really difficult for me. Even after 40 years in the food industry, it's still difficult for me.”
