Martha's back in action
2005-03-04 09:45
West Virginia - Wasting no time, Martha Stewart left prison in the middle of the night on Friday and quickly set her sights on rebuilding her homemaking empire after serving a five-month sentence for lying about a stock sale.
Stewart was allowed to leave prison at 12:30 on Friday in a two-vehicle motorcade and headed to a nearby airport where she was to board a private jet for a flight to New York.
She will spend the next five months on home confinement at her 62 hectare estate in Katonah, New York.
A sport utility vehicle carrying Stewart drove through the prison gate past reporters and about 15 fans without stopping.
Stewart, 63, had 72 hours after leaving Alderson to report to corrections officials in New York to be fitted with an electronic ankle bracelet so her movements can be monitored.
Under the terms of her confinement, she will be allowed to leave her compound for up to 48 hours a week for her job, including working on her version of the hit reality TV show The Apprentice and continuing her role as creative talent for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.
She also will star in a revival of her homemaking show, and her company will resume paying her $900 000-a-year salary.
Cashing in
In the process, Stewart hopes to turn around the fortunes of a company that produces everything from television shows and magazines to bed sheets and bakeware.
In 2004, the company suffered a loss and its revenues sagged, but the stock price rose considerably during her prison stint as investors bet on a Martha comeback.
During her time at the federal women's camp in Alderson, Stewart kept with her lemonade-from-lemons attitude and sought to imprint her style on the prison.
She foraged for dandelions and other wild greens, concocted recipes in a microwave and even ate from a vending machine. She also participated in nightly yoga classes, spent time on crafts and writing and lost weight.
Stewart even took on inmate rights, saying her fellow prisoners risked falling into a "severe depression" because of false hopes raised by a recent US Supreme Court ruling striking down federal sentencing guidelines. Her own sentence, however, was ruled "reasonable" in light of that ruling.
Stewart's release came one day shy of the one-year anniversary of her conviction in New York on charges stemming from her 2001 sale of nearly 4 000 shares of the biotechnology company ImClone Systems, run by her longtime friend Sam Waksal.
Rebuffed twice in her attempts to obtain new trials, Stewart opted to enter prison early rather remain free pending her appeal.
"I must reclaim my good life," she said in September, lamenting that she would miss her beloved pets but looking forward to being free in time for her cherished spring gardening.
- AP