Martha Stewart criticises documentary and says she "hates" scenes she asked to be cut
"Boy, I told him to get rid of those. And he refused. I hate those last scenes."
New Netflix documentary film Martha is now available to stream, and it tells the story of businesswoman, writer, TV personality and former billionaire Martha Stewart through a selection of on-camera interviews with the woman herself, as well as voice interviews with those close to her at different stages of her life.
In spite of her extensive interview contributions to the film, Stewart has now criticised the documentary, saying that although she loved "the first half of the documentary", she took issue with scenes towards the end.
In an interview with the New York Times, Stewart said of the film's ending: "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."
Stewart particularly criticised the film's director RJ Cutler for using "very little" material from her personal archive, calling it "shocking" and noting that her grandchildren were omitted from the film, with "not even a mention" of them.
She also criticised the film's focus on the insider trading allegations and the obstruction of justice trial that saw her serve time in prison, saying: "It was not that important. The trial and the actual incarceration was less than two years out of an 83-year life.
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"I considered it a vacation, to tell you the truth… the trial itself was extremely boring. Even the judge fell asleep. RJ didn’t even put that in. The judge was asleep at the bench. I wrote it in my diary every day."
She also added that she told Cutler to include rap music in the film, telling him to include artists such as Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg and Fredwreck.
"And then he gets some lousy classical score in there, which has nothing to do with me," she said.
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On a more positive note, Stewart said young women have already told her the film "gave them a strength that they didn’t know they had", saying that she likes how the documentary "really shows a strong woman standing up for herself and living through horror as well as some huge success".
Cutler has previously said of making the film: "I got this sense of just how much Martha was a personification of her times and such an American success story.
"It was clear to me that she was thinking about telling her life story in some form, and it wasn’t hard to imagine that there was a life-and-times movie to be made that explored why Martha has been such a significant cultural and business figure for so many decades in so many ways.
"I started reading about Martha, and the more I did, the more it became clear to me that she was a complex person filled with so many conflicts and contradictions. And the more I learned about her, the more excited I became about the possibility of digging deeper into her story."
Martha is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.
Check out more of our Documentaries coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what's on. For more from the biggest stars in TV, listen to The Radio Times Podcast.
Authors
James Hibbs is a Drama Writer for Radio Times, covering programmes across both streaming platforms and linear channels. He previously worked in PR, first for a B2B agency and subsequently for international TV production company Fremantle. He possesses a BA in English and Theatre Studies and an NCTJ Level 5 Diploma in Journalism.
