Martha Stewart Remembers Losing Her Virginity to Her Husband at 19: 'He Was Very Aggressive and I Liked It'

Mar. 15, 2025

Martha Stewartfell in love with ex-husbandAndy Stewarton their first date.

“He picked me up in his little yellow Mercedes sedan,” she recalls in the film. “I had never been in a Mercedes before.”

Martha, 83, grew up one of six children in Nutley, N.J. The popular, tall blonde spent her teen years modeling to provide extra income for her parents, “Big Martha,” a school teacher, and Edward, a failed businessman.

Martha Stewart; Martha and Andy on their wedding day in 1961.Vivien Killilea/Getty; Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

Vivien Killilea/Getty; Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

Martha remembers going out to dinner with Andy on their first date when she was 19. “He was very polite and handsome, and he had traveled a lot. It was exciting to meet a sophisticated young man. And he had an American Express card, which was a very big deal in those days," she says.

Martha Stewart (top middle) with her family.Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

“I had never slept with anybody before this,” she says. “He was very aggressive and I liked it.”

Martha and Andy Stewart.Martha Stewart/Courtesy of Netflix

When Andy proposed, Martha says marriage seemed like “such a natural thing to do.” But her father didn’t approve of the relationship. “I went home and told my dad, and my dad slapped me,” she recalls. “And he slapped me hard on my face, and said ‘No. You’re not marrying him. He’s a Jew.’”

“I remember getting that slap,” Martha continues. “I was not at all surprised, because he was a bigot and he was impulsive.” Martha says she told her father, “I’m going to get married no matter what you think.”

She made her own wedding dress for her 1961 nuptials and welcomed daughter Alexis four years later.

“The wedding day was very happy,” she says. “Very nice. It was the beginning of my life.”

The documentary also details infidelity in their marriage, revealing that both she and Andy had affairs. Martha recalls kissing a “very handsome guy” in Florence’s Duomo on her honeymoon and a “very brief affair” with a “very attractive Irish man” while she was working as a stockbroker in the late ’60s.

Martha Stewart in her modeling days.Courtesy of Netflix

Courtesy of Netflix

“It was nothing,” she insists. “I would never have broken up a marriage for it."

Andy told producers he “didn’t stray” until she had. “I don’t know how many different girlfriends he had during this time, but I think there were quite a few,” says Martha, noting that one affair took placeon the couple’s propertyin Westport, Conn., as she was writing cookbooks.

Martha and Andy divorced in 1990 and haven’t spoken for over 20 years.

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Martha told PEOPLE in 2020 that her divorce was tough on her.

“Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me, because we were the first to divorce in my family,” she said. “And that we haven’t spoken since the divorce is even more painful. But I’m very strong, andI’m very motivated to get on with life.”

Marthais now streaming on Netflix.

source: people.com