Martha Stewart used to earn $65 million a year from a brand deal, but she lost $1 billion when she fell into tough times.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – FEBRUARY 03: Martha Stewart attends the premiere of FX’s “Love Story” at Carnegie Hall on February 03, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
The 85-year-old lifestyle guru was previously in partnership with department store chain Kmart, which made her a fortune in royalties.
“I was clearing $65,000,000 a year in royalties,” Stewart shared on the Masterclass podcast “Other People’s Business.”
“We were selling close to $2 billion worth of merchandise,” Stewart continued. “That’s a lot of money. That was funding the whole development of my magazine, the whole business. That was an amazing thing.”
She also noted that her success was pre-internet and pre-Amazon when Kmart was the “biggest retailer in America at the time.”
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – SEPTEMBER 15: Martha Stewart attends Oceana’s 2026 New York Gala at The Rainbow Room on September 15, 2026 in New York City. (Photo by Manoli Figetakis/Getty Images)
“Kmart came along, and they wanted me to be a lifestyle expert for them. They wanted me to be an influencer. They didn’t know that word, but I knew that I could really influence a huge [audience],” Stewart said.
“They signed this very fabulous deal with a huge royalty that I would get on every sale of every product that I designed. They would pay for all the advertising, and the original budget for the first year was $20 million for advertising [in the ‘80s],” which went towards TV commercials, Stewart explained.
“They didn’t know how much we were going to sell. But, I must tell you, in the first year, we sold hundreds of millions of dollars of product. And they didn’t even know that I would sell that much. They took a chance.”
But just as quickly as she was making millions, she ended up losing even more during her legal troubles.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – OCTOBER 29: Martha Stewart attends the 2024 WWD Honors at Cipriani South Street on October 29, 2024 in New York City. (Photo by Dominik Bindl/Getty Images)
According to Stewart, she “lost about a billion dollars” after she “fell in a hole” during her trial.
“The lawyers took me to the cleaners and they were horrible,” she said.
Stewart served five months in prison from October 2004 to March 2005 after she was found guilty of conspiracy, obstruction of justice, and making false statements to federal investigators regarding her sale of ImClone Systems stock.
“But I’m back. I mean, I’m pretty good,” she said on the podcast.
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