Martha Stewart and Ina Garten are feuding!
The Barefoot Contessa star was profiled in a cover story for The New Yorker earlier this month. In it, she opened up about her rise to fame (thanks to Martha’s help) and so much more. But it was a simple little comment about why the two TV personalities lost touch that has now sparked controversy!!
Related: Martha Stewart Doesn’t Wear Underwear??
In the profile, Ina claimed she and the Martha Stewart Living star naturally fell out of touch with each other when the businesswoman started spending more time at her Bedford, New York property. However, when the outlet asked Snoop Dogg‘s pal for her side of the story, she insisted that Ina was the one who ghosted HER!!! Martha claimed:
“When I was sent off to Alderson Prison, she stopped talking to me. I found that extremely distressing and extremely unfriendly.”
Oof!
Sounds like their friendship was collateral damage from her arrest! Of course, as Perezcious readers know, while Martha maintained her innocence, she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction, and two counts of lying to investigators related to her involvement in an insider trading scandal way back in 2004. She was sentenced to prison for five months and then spent another five months on home confinement, which was then followed by two years of supervised probation.
It’s not unusual for celebs to distance themselves from acquaintances in hot water. But we guess after their long friendship, Ina’s silence really pissed the OG hostess off! And since Martha argued the whole time that she was innocent, Ina’s reported snub must’ve hurt even worse. Bummer! But also, we can’t help but notice that the 76-year-old cookbook author blamed the falling out on Martha’s time in Bedford — where she spent her home confinement. So, without saying it, Ina seems to be kinda implying that was a breaking point for them, ya know?! Damn.
That said, Ina “firmly” denied her ex-bestie’s new claims. And Martha’s longtime publicist, Susan Magrino, even called up the publication to reiterate that the 83-year-old is “not bitter at all and there’s no feud.” Hah! They knew instantly that this was about to blow up and were quick to try to shut it down. Ah, well, too bad it was all published anyways. LOLz!
FWIW, the ladies first met in the ’90s and quickly connected. Martha was instrumental in kickstarting Ina’s career in tons of ways, including trying to launch a Food Network TV show for her (a project in which Ina ultimately didn’t move forward). Despite the rumored rift, Ina has been very complimentary about Martha in the past, as well — and long after her legal trouble, too! In a 2017 TIME article, Garten gushed:
“I think she did something really important, which is that she took something that wasn’t valued, which is home arts, and raised it to a level that people were proud to do it and that completely changed the landscape. I then took it in my own direction, which is that I’m not a trained professional chef, cooking is really hard for me — here I am 40 years in the food business, it’s still hard for me.”
Was all this praise fake just to hide a longstanding feud?? Or did things hit another rough match more recently causing the latest interview comments? Hmm…
Either way, it’s sad to see that after so many years, they’ve drifted apart! But we guess it’s good that they’re both trying to downplay the potential “feud” of it all? Hopefully, things aren’t TOO salty behind the scenes! Thoughts? Reactions? Sound OFF (below)!
[Image via MEGA/WENN & Food Network/YouTube]
