Huge star, 83, savagely tears her own Netflix documentary apart: ‘I hate those scenes’

Martha Stewart has brutally torn into her own documentary, days after it finally premiered on Netflix.

The iconic businesswoman was the focus of a new special by director RJ Cutler, who delved into her decades-long career, her home empire and her time spent in prison in the early 2000s.

The documentary, simply titled Martha, was released this week and has already shot up the top 10 chart on the streaming platform.

However, it seems as though the 83-year-old wasn’t too impressed with how she had been portrayed in the program, branding it ‘shocking’ that the filmmaker had used ‘very little’ of the access he had been granted in the final cut.

She wasted no time in picking the footage apart in an interview with the New York Times, fuming: ‘Those last scenes with me looking like a lonely old lady walking hunched over in the garden? Boy, I told him to get rid of those. And he refused. I hate those last scenes. Hate them.

‘I had ruptured my Achilles’ tendon. I had to have this hideous operation. And so I was limping a little. But again, he doesn’t even mention why — that I can live through that and still work seven days a week.

‘He had three cameras on me. And he chooses to use the ugliest angle. And I told him, “Don’t use that angle! That’s not the nicest angle. You had three cameras. Use the other angle.” He would not change that.

‘My magazine, my Martha Stewart magazine, which you might say is traditional, was the most modern home magazine ever created. We had avant-garde photography. Nobody ever showed puff pastry the way I showed it. Or the glossaries of the apples and the chrysanthemums.

‘And we prided ourselves so much on all of that modernism. And he didn’t get any of that.’

Although she conceded that she loved ‘the first half’, Martha was left unhappy with how little RJ included about her groundbreaking Martha Stewart magazine, her close bond with her grandchildren, her love of travel and the lack of rap music in the soundtrack, slamming the inclusion of a ‘lousy classical score’ instead.

Despite her criticisms, RJ remained happy with the finished product and vowed he is ‘really proud’ of how everything came across.

‘I’m not surprised that it’s hard for her to see aspects of it,’ he added. ‘It’s a movie, not a Wikipedia page. It’s the story of an incredibly interesting human being who is complicated and visionary and brilliant.’

Martha has been a firm fixture of the spotlight for four decades, and dropped with her first cookbook, Entertaining, in 1982.

From there, she launched a magazine, fronted two TV shows and led the way on a variety of business ventures.

The Netflix documentary sheds light on her biggest moments in the spotlight, as well as sharing a glimpse into who she is behind closed doors.

‘Martha Stewart built an empire with her impeccable taste and business acumen,’ the official synopsis read.

‘One phone call changed everything. She tells her story in this documentary.’

Martha is available to stream on Netflix now.

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