Martha Stewart was a trad-wife earlier than social media made it widespread | USAEMALL.com

Martha Stewart was a trad-wife before the term took social media by storm.

During a recent appearance on Molly Sims’ podcast, “Lipstick on the Rim,” which she co-hosts with Emese Gormley, the 84-year-old businesswoman spoke about becoming one of the first female self-made billionaires in America, and how she was able to relate to “every woman.”

“I was the every woman. I don’t call housekeeping, I call it homekeeping,” she explained. “I really was that woman. I now have a new term which I just learned, I was the trad-wife. I was the original f—ing trad-wife.”

Short for “traditional wife,” tradwives are women who honor femininity, care for their husbands, children and family, and value the state of their home more than they do a salary, yet are not subservient, according to the Darling Academy, a British website.

Martha Stewart referred to herself as the original trad-wife.  (Ilya S. Savenok/Getty Images for FASHIONPHILE)

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When it comes to being able to balance managing her home with managing her successful business, Stewart said it “was very easy.”

“I was steeped in business from the stock market days and all the research that I had done on companies, but I was also so interested in homekeeping,” she said. “That was the easy joining of two very diverse fields.”

“I really was that woman. I now have a new term which I just learned, I was the trad-wife. I was the original f—ing trad-wife.”

— Martha Stewart

The lifestyle mogul started out as a caterer, who later found success as a cookbook author and television personality. She later consolidated all her businesses, including magazines, books, TV shows and products into her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia.

Her company went public in 1999 and the stock price doubled on its first day on the market, valuing Stewart’s 96% ownership stake in the company at about $1.05 billion, according to reports at the time.

Stewart told the podcast hosts it was fun driving down Madison Avenue in New York and thinking she could buy anything she wanted. (Brendon Thorne/Getty Images)

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“The day I went public, I was a very, very rich woman. And that was fun,” she said. “I drove up Madison Avenue and I said, ‘Oh gosh, I could actually buy anything on this street.’”

In recent years, Stewart has embraced her sexuality as she started to post thirst traps on social media at 78, and even posed for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue in 2023 at the age of 82. 

She posted her first thirst trap in July 2020 and it went viral. The photo featured her in the Hamptons in a black bathing suit, as she pouted her lips towards the camera.

During an appearance on “Today” in September 2025, Stewart admitted “lots of people” have slid into her DMs since she began posting her thirst traps, but that she wasn’t dating anyone at the time.

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Stewart shared a lot of people slid into her DMs after she started posting thirst traps. (Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty Images for SKIMS)

“No, I’m not dating anybody special,” she said. “But I have lots of friends, and my friends keep me happy.”