In a Swimsuit at 81: What We Know About Sports Illustrated’s Oldest Cover Model

Martha Stewart was born on August 3, 1941 in Jersey City. She was the second of six children of Edward Kostyra and Martha Rushkowski. The parents of the future star were Polish immigrants and did not live very richly. Both were teachers and her father later became a pharmacy clerk.

Already at the age of 10, Marta was forced to go to work herself – she became a nanny and helped with children, including in the families of New York Yankees players. Soon Martha began to try her hand at modeling – at the age of 15 she starred in commercials.

As a child, her mother taught Martha to sew and cook, and her father, a gardening enthusiast, passed on his knowledge and experience to her. This largely helped Stewart build his later career. After all, she rose to fame primarily as a home economics guru. Although in her youth she worked as a Chanel model, that is, she achieved some success in this field, Marta chose a different path. In 1976 Stewart entered the restaurant business and quickly rose to prominence as a chef and party planner.

Martha soon began publishing housekeeping books, which became bestsellers. Stewart was a guest on Oprah Winfrey and Larry King and hosted her own show.

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In 1961, Martha married Andrew Stewart, then a Yale law student. Their only child, daughter Alexis, was born in 1965. The couple separated in 1987, the divorce was not finalized until 1990.

After leaving her husband, Stewart dated Anthony Hopkins, but ended her relationship with the famous actor after seeing the movie The Silence of the Lambs. She said she couldn’t avoid Hopkins’ association with the character of Hannibal Lecter.

Among her lovers was also billionaire Charles Simonyi, who was one of Microsoft’s first employees.

His pets include Chow Chows, French Bulldogs, Himalayan Cats, a Fell Pony named Ben Chanch, and Friesian Horses. Marta has long since given up on wearing real fur.

If it seems like Martha’s life was cloudless, then that’s not quite true. In 2003, she was charged with securities fraud and obstruction of justice. The reason for this was that Stewart avoided a loss of $45,673 by selling the 3,928 shares of ImClone Systems on December 27, 2001, after receiving inside information from broker Peter Bakanovich. The day after the sale, the share price fell by 16%.

As a result, Martha was sentenced to two years in prison. She spent five in home confinement. Son Stewart served at his residence in Bedford, New York. She was allowed to leave home 48 hours a week for business. After receiving the so-called supervised release – the remaining period of the TV star remained under surveillance and had to report his movements.

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