Martha ditches fur
2005-09-21 15:08
Los Angeles - Embattled United States domestic diva Martha Stewart, assailed last year by a US animals rights group for wearing fur, has turned her back on animal pelts and become a spokesperson for the rights group.
Stewart, who completed five months of house arrest that followed a five-month jail stretch for lying about a share deal, has made a video eschewing the use of fur in fashion for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta).
"I used to wear real fur, but, like many others, I had a change of heart when I learned what actually happens to the animals," Stewart said in the five-minute video filmed on the set of her television talk show.
"So much violence in the world seems beyond our control, but this is one cruelty we can stop by being informed consumers," she said.
The film shows how animals are trapped, strangled, and electrocuted for their pelts, according to Peta, which in March 2004 put Stewart, 64, near the top of its annual worst-dressed list because she flaunted her furs in public.
Peta put Stewart in its sights after she apparently wore a chinchilla fur scarf in court in New York 18 months ago.
"Martha won't get the electric chair, but the same can't be said for the chinchillas who were genitally electrocuted just so she could wear a frumpy scarf on the day of her conviction," the group said scathingly at the time.
But the household maven and the outspoken rights group have kissed and made up following Stewart's rejection of fur in fashion.
"Martha's public turnaround on fur began this spring, when she responded from jail to a letter from Peta vice-president Dan Mathews, explaining that the fur she famously wore the day of her sentencing was fake," Peta said.
"Martha credits her vegetarian daughter, Alexis, who co-stars in her new show, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, with making her aware of animal issues," the vocal animal rights lobby group added.