Scandal can't shake faith of Martha Stewart fans

By Libby Copeland
Washington Post

In light of reports that she could face charges of obstruction of justice and making false statements, on top of being investigated for possible insider stock trading, Stewart's position may seem precarious. But there are plenty of faithful who hold strong to the Church of Martha.

This isn't the first time the woman they admire has been kicked around. They tend to believe Stewart is innocent, the victim of a post-Enron witch-hunt atmosphere, and perhaps her own ignorance — the victim, most of all, of Those Who Hate Martha.

"If it wasn't such a fad to hate her, this would not be happening," says Stephanie Williams, of Arlington, Va., who signs an e-mail, "Long Live Martha :)."

Ask the Martha fans why she is innocent and hear a potpourri of possibilities. Some say she's too savvy a businesswoman to have risked it all to sell ImClone stock worth the relatively paltry sum of $227,000 last year, the day before the biotech company announced the government had rejected its application for a new cancer drug.

Others suggest that even if the accusations are true, Stewart's actions must not have been taken "deliberately." And some point to something else, something central to Stewart's appeal: She couldn't have done it because she's a good person.

"Even though I don't know anything about insider trading I just think she wouldn't do anything like that," e-mails Janet Houle, 53, a cook from a small town in Michigan's Upper Peninsula. "She seems like a real nice person to me."

"I think she's a very sincere person. ... She really understands everyday people," says Alice Probst, 55, of Ronkonkoma, N.Y., who ran a Martha fan club for years and has met her idol many times. "I would never have started the fan club if I had gotten the impression that she was a phony."

As Martha's faithful will tell you, there have always been threats to her good name. In 1997 came a scorching tell-all "Martha Stewart — Just Desserts: The Unauthorized Biography," with allegations about Stewart's demeaning treatment of her former husband. This spring produced "Martha Inc.: The Incredible Story of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia," describing a brilliant but tyrannical businesswoman who supposedly pinned a gardener with her Suburban and threw candy corn at a trick-or-treater.

Stewart, meanwhile, has tried to remain her same old unruffled self — in public, at least. During a regular appearance on CBS's "Early Show" Tuesday, she deflected inquiries into the insider-trading scandal by saying, "I want to focus on my salad."

What is a salad? For Stewart's devotees, its meaning is far greater than lettuce (or, to be exact, chicken and shredded cabbage with noodles and peanut sauce).

After all, Stewart built her empire on the notion that there's a right way to do everything, down to the most seemingly frivolous. (The latest issue of Martha Stewart Living recommends pre-scooping ice cream onto a tray before a dinner party, because guests shouldn't have to wait for their dessert.)

"I was watching her show a couple of weeks ago and she had a few minutes on how to fold a fitted sheet," says Kerry Ogata, 32, of Ashburn, Va., who tapes all of Stewart's shows, keeps every issue of her magazine, and has about five of Stewart's cookbooks. "Now I never knew there was a way to fold a fitted sheet — I just kind of wad them up and stuff them in the closet. ... It's nice to know there's a way to do that."

"I'm such an organizational freak that I think that's the part of Martha that appeals to me," says Michele Thomann, 34, of Woodstock, Md., who considers herself a casual fan of Stewart's decorating style. "It's the simplicity, it's the sophistication ... the deliberateness, I think. Really making your home be a place you can not only live in but be comfortable and be beautiful."

It's about dreams. Martha Stewart Living is a "wish-fulfillment magazine," says Christopher Byron, author of "Martha Inc." "It's sort of a women's version of Playboy, it's kind of a fantasy escapism."

Just about every fan says that if the allegations are true, they will not stop buying Stewart's products. Probst says she'd be "perplexed," but that Stewart's sheets are too good to stop buying. Michele Thomann says: "I really think of her as a look. I don't think of her as a person."

But some become disillusioned. Shari Zerobnick of Denver was once Martha's champion, running a Web site devoted to all things Martha, complete with links to Stewart's paint line and a help desk that users could call to ask questions about Stewart's recipes. She loved the feeling of empowerment she got from watching her idol on television.

"She would show you how you could take a kerosene lamp and rewire it and make it into a working electrical lamp. Or how to grow strawberries in your garden," says Zerobnick, 38. "I think I bought into the adage of 'If Martha Stewart could do it, so could I.' ... I never was that sure of myself in doing home improvement projects."

She bought Stewart's brand name comforter, dust ruffle, sham and sheets, all in a blue-green inspired by the eggs of Stewart's Araucana hens. Then she stenciled a matching border around her bedroom. She hollowed out a bowl of bread and filled it with vinaigrette, basil, tomato, salami, ham and cheese, according to a Stewart recipe. It was delicious.

Over the years, though, "I had my suspicions that she wasn't as nice as she appeared to be." When she read "Martha Inc.," "I was horrified." Not only did Stewart seem like "a phony," but "she's a disaster — she's disorganized, she's cluttered."

Asked about the scandal du jour, Zerobnick says with all the bitterness of a spurned lover, "I think she's guilty."

She doesn't need Martha Stewart anymore. The other day, she and her husband painted a wall in their house burgundy, then Zerobnick used a sea sponge dipped in paint to apply a textured gold finish. "And I did it all myself," she says.