Martha Stewart Said Reporter Who Covered Her Trial Was ‘Dead Now, Thank Goodness’ but She’s Not: ‘I’m Alive, Bitch!’

"News of my passing came as a shock," writes 'New York Post' journalist Andrea Peyser

New York Post reporter, Andrea Peyser, poses while holding a menu as she sits at a table at Nello's restaurant March 8, 2006 in New York City. Martha Stewart in Martha on Netflix
Andrea Peyser; Martha Stewart. Photo:

Arnaldo Magnani/Getty; Courtesy of Netflix

Martha Stewart mistakenly killed off a journalist mentioned in her new Netflix documentary, Martha.

In the film, which aired on Oct. 30, Stewart, 83, claimed Andrea Peyser — a New York Post columnist who covered Stewart's infamous 2004 trial — was "dead now, thank goodness." Except, she isn't.

Peyser used her latest column for the newspaper to declare, "I'm alive, bitch!" Peyser, who started working for New York Post in 1989, has published at least eight other stories in 2024.

Stewart was convicted for lying to the FBI during an insider-trading investigation in 2004.

"Guilty, guilty, guilty on all these counts of whatever," she said in Martha. "My daughter, she fainted when they read the verdict. Poor child."

Stewart referred to Peyser as simply "New York Post lady" and recalls seeing her in the courtroom when the verdict was announced. In her latest story, Peyser confirmed she "wrote weeks of Post columns" during that time.

Martha Stewart speaks outside the Manhattan Federal Court after sentencing on July 16, 2004.
Martha Stewart speaks outside the Manhattan Federal Court after sentencing on July 16, 2004.

Andrew Gombert/EPA/Shutterstock

"New York Post lady was there, just looking so smug," said Stewart. "She had written horrible things during the entire trial. But she is dead now, thank goodness. And nobody has to put up with the crap she was writing all the time."

"News of my passing came as a shock," said Peyser of her "uncredited cameo appearance."

"But rather than feeling angry or worried that Martha has offed me, or to seek an emergency order of protection, I am overwhelmingly sad in the face of Martha’s bitterness."

It is unclear why Stewart believed Peyser was dead.

New York Post reporter, Andrea Peyser, poses while holding a menu as she sits at a table at Nello's restaurant March 8, 2006 in New York City.
Andrea Peyser.

Arnaldo Magnani/Getty

The Netflix documentary chronicles Stewart's life, including her five-month stint at Alderson Federal Prison Camp in West Virginia (nicknamed Camp Cupcake) following the trial. She shared letters written during her time there.

On the first of 150 days in prison, Stewart wrote: "Physical exam, stripped of all clothes. Squat, arms out, cough — embarrassing."

"I had to do all that crap that you see in the movies," she said. "You can't even believe that that's what you're going through."

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