NEWSWEEK: Martha Stewart Back in Business, Starting New Projects, One Year

After Prison; 'I'm Not Happy About the Appeal ... About the Entire

Situation. I Never Will Be.'

Blames 'Apprentice' Failure on 'Apprentice' Overload;

Says People Have Appreciated How She's Handled Herself Through

'Very Intolerable Situation'

NEW YORK, Feb. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- Martha Stewart, one year out of
prison, tells Newsweek that her business is back to her preconviction
days of two years ago, but not yet at the prescandal glory days of
2001. "Maybe our revenues aren't as high," she says, "but we're back
in spirit and in business dealings." Last month, Stewart lost her
appeal, putting an end to the four- year criminal case. "I'm not happy
about the appeal. I'm not happy about the entire situation. I never
will be," Stewart says. "But you just have to do what you have to do
and get on with it."

(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060219/NYSU004 )

Stewart is finally starting to rebuild her own house of style, despite
her "Apprentice" show flopping and her stock being down by more than
half over the past year. But, as Detroit Bureau Chief Keith Naughton
reports in the February 27 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday,
February 20), there are signs that the worst may be over. Advertisers
and subscribers are now flooding back, with ad pages in her magazine
doubling in the last three months. And she's spinning out reams of new
projects, like a Sirius satellite radio show and a new magazine,
Blueprint, aimed at young nesters.

Stewart blames her "Apprentice" failure on "Apprentice" overload. She
says she was supposed to have started out by firing Donald Trump on
the air, clearing the way for her show to be the sole "Apprentice."
"Having two 'Apprentices' was as unfair to him as it was unfair to
me," she tells Naughton. "But Donald really wanted to stay on." The
show's producer Mark Burnett admits that dumping the Donald was
suggested, but adds, "Thank God that didn't happen." He says Stewart's
version of "The Apprentice" just didn't "ignite viewer interest." Some
found her unnaturally saccharine, particularly when she wrote
thank-you notes to contestants she just fired. "That was all Martha's
idea," says Burnett. "Maybe Martha was a little concerned about coming
out of jail, getting a second chance, and she softened a bit."

Martha never goes soft in the face of adversity, and she says that's
what will keep her nascent comeback going -- despite the recent
stumbles. "People certainly appreciated the way that I handled myself
through this very intolerable situation," she says. "To not whine and
not complain and not kvetch." Asked if her latest burst of creativity
suggests she's feeling, pardon the pun, untethered, Stewart laughs and
embellishes the joke. "I still have 12 months of probation to live
through," she says. "So there's still a slight little tether there."

(Read Newsweek's news releases at www.Newsweek.com. Click "Pressroom.")

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11435074/site/newsweek/ SOURCE Newsweek