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Martha Stewart disparaged a variety of people while promoting her Netflix documentary, Martha, and her 100th cookbook, Martha: The Cookbook: 100 Favorite Recipes: A Colon Is A Good Thing. One of the first instances happened before either project was released, when Martha was asked by The New Yorker to give a quote on her (alleged) friend, Ina Garten, who had her own book coming out. Instead of offering a nice little anecdote, as people usually do when contributing to a profile, Martha said that Ina snubbed her after she went to prison. Ina rebutted with “recollections may vary,” and Martha’s publicist promptly waded in telling The New Yorker “there’s no feud,” and that Martha wasn’t “bitter at all.” Methinks the publicist doth protest too much. Well, Ina was at a Q&A last week, and she reiterated her position that Martha’s version of events “isn’t exactly accurate,” and also suggested that after two decades, it was “time to let it go.” If only the documentary cameras had still been rolling to capture Martha’s reaction!
Ina Garten is addressing her falling out with Martha Stewart.
During a live Q&A at the PEOPLE offices on Dec. 5, Garten, 76, spoke about her former friendship with the lifestyle mogul. Stewart, 83, had previously claimed that Garten stopped speaking to her after Stewart went to prison in 2004 — but now Garten said that’s not true.
“Well, let’s just say her story isn’t exactly accurate,” Garten rebutted.
“And, you know, that was 25 years ago,” she added with a laugh. “I think it’s time to let it go.”
The celebrity chefs met in the Hamptons, N.Y., in the 1990s. While friends, Garten wrote a column for Martha Stewart Living. Stewart also brought a publisher to Garten’s specialty food store The Barefoot Contessa, which led to Garten landing her first book deal.
Garten — who released her latest book, a memoir, Be Ready When the Luck Happens, on Oct. 1 — told The New Yorker in September that distance was the reason the friendship ended. According to Garten, she and Stewart lost touch when she moved to Connecticut and Stewart stayed in New York.
Stewart told a different story. “When I was sent off to Alderson Prison, she stopped talking to me,” Stewart said. On the Oct. 20 episode of Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen, Stewart made similar claims.
Stewart’s publicist added to The New Yorker that she was “not bitter at all and there’s no feud.”
At the Oct. 21 NYC premiere of her Netflix documentary Martha, Stewart told PEOPLE that a reconciliation between her and Garten was unlikely.
“She’s into her own thing,” Stewart said. “That’s okay.”
You know what? I think this is good for Martha, having someone bite back. Don’t get me wrong, I hope Ina has solid security measures in place after publicly calling Martha a liar and telling her to get over it. But let’s see if Martha rises to the occasion. Like a salty souffle. For what it’s worth, and in the name of peace and reconciliation, I would like to point out to both Martha and Ina that Amazon pairs their latest books when you scroll down to “frequently bought together.” As for Ina’s explanation on how they lost touch — because she moved away from Martha in New York to that far off land… Connecticut! — as a resident of the tristate area I definitely did an eye roll. People can drift apart, and that’s fine and a full explanation itself as far as I’m concerned. But commuting and communicating between NY and CT is not an insurmountable hill to climb if they’d wanted to, lol. The woman I still feel the most sympathy for out of this story is Martha’s publicist Susan Magrino! Do you think she has these denials pre-recorded on her phone, and trots them out as necessary? Martha Stewart calls Ryan Reynolds “not so funny in real life.” Susan: “There’s no feud!” NY Post columnist claps back at Martha Stewart after Martha said she was dead. Susan: “She’s not bitter at all!” Being prepared: it’s a good thing.
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