Martha Stewart has opened up about how her dating life has changed since she appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit.
The 81-year-old, who made history as magazine’s the oldest-ever cover model, spoke candidly about potential love interests reaching out to her during an interview with Entertainment Tonight on Thursday while attending SI’s party in New York City.
“I’ve gotten a few inquiries. Just a couple,” Stewart said, without specifying who has contacted.
However, the businesswoman acknowledged that she’s not really looking for a relationship as she’s “working really hard” on other priorities.
“You have to make time for certain things. My garden is very important,” she said, before pointing out how she’s focused on her family. “It’s the best. I have two amazing grandchildren.”
Stewart has a 12-year-old granddaughter, Jude, and 11-year-old grandson, Truman, who are the children of her only daughter, Alexis, 56. In 1965, Stewart welcomed Alexis with her ex-husband, Andrew, whom she officially divorced in 1990. Following their split in 1987, the publisher reportedly obtained a court order to forbid his ex-wife from speaking to him, according to a 1995 issue of People.
While she’s currently single, Stewart told ET that she’d be open to playing a character who’s falling in love.
“Maybe I’ll do a movie or one of the great series that’s on now,” she explained, noting that she’s sure she’ll “find the right leading man” to work on this project with her.
This isn’t the first time that the TV personality has shared her thoughts about dating. During an appearance on Chelsea Handler’s Dear Chelsea podcast in July 2022, she said she recently had “mad crushes” on two men, one of whom was married. With that in mind, she said she didn’t pressure anything with the married man, as she’s “never been a homewrecker”.
“I’ve had the opportunity to be a homewrecker and I have not taken anybody up on it,” she said at the time. “That’s really where I meet men, they’re all married to friends of mine or something like that.”
She later noted that she gave online dating a shot, explaining: “I tried that for a while – once, actually. I went out with three different people and the algorithm doesn’t fit me.”
Earlier this week, Stewart opened up about becoming the oldest cover model for Sports Illustrated Swimsuit. She told the publication that she while doesn’t usually think about her age, she was impressed by her latest achievement.
“When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good, I’m going to be the oldest person I think ever on a cover of Sports Illustrated,’” she said. “And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic.”
The cookbook author said she participated in this photo shoot to prove that one’s age doesn’t define who they are and what they’ve achieved.
“Age is not the determining factor in terms of friendship or in terms of success, but what people do, how people think, how people act, that’s what’s important and not your age,” she said.
Following the release of her magazine cover, Stewart also hit back at online critics who accused SI of “over-touching” her images with airbrushing and who accused her of getting cosmetic surgery.
“They are incredibly accurate pictures. I was really pleased that there was not much airbrushing,” she told Variety on Tuesday.
When asked about being accused of “getting work done to look so good”, Stewart said: “Well, it’s not true. I’ve had absolutely no plastic surgery whatsoever.”
