Posted on: Saturday, March 5, 2005
Stewart begins post-prison life — with softer image
By Jim Fitzgerald
Associated Press
KATONAH, N.Y. — Enjoying her first day out of prison, Martha Stewart fed treats to her horses, harvested lemons in her greenhouse and sent out hot chocolate to chilled reporters as she settled in at her $16 million country estate for five months of house arrest.
Ed Betz • Associated Press "It feels great," she said when asked about her first day home.
"I didn't really miss material things at all," she said later. "It was kind of nice to have a rest from the material things. And from this," she added, laughing and pointing to the media horde that was watching her every move.
Wall Street's reaction wasn't quite as warm. Shares in Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia fell $3.20, or 9 percent, to close at $30.75 in trading on the New York Stock Exchange. It was the biggest one-day sell-off of the company's stock since September.
Some experts blamed the decline on fears the company won't grow significantly in the next few years.
Stewart made a dash for home after leaving prison in an SUV at 12:30 a.m. yesterday. She hopped on a private jet and was in the comfort of her estate 40 miles north of New York City just after 3 a.m.
Stewart was given 72 hours to set up a meeting with a probation officer. Then, she will get fitted with an electronic anklet that will monitor all her moves.
She will be allowed 48 hours a week to work outside the home, and is expected to commute to her New York City offices next week as she begins her comeback.
Stewart already has a full plate: She'll star in a revival of her daily homemaking show as well as her version of NBC's "The Apprentice" while writing a column for her magazine and running her homemaking empire.
Just hours after completing her five-month stretch at a federal prison in Alderson, W.Va., for a stock scandal, a smiling Stewart projected the softer, more approachable image she cultivated behind bars.
Martha Stewart, back at her New York home after 5 months in prison, said her break from "material things" was nice and pointed to another thing she didn't mind having a break from: the crowd of news media.
