Martha Stewart defends dressing as a homeless person for Halloween and claims costume was intended to raise 'awareness' after sparking outrage with controversial look

Published: 05:01 EDT, 2 November 2026 | Updated: 05:20 EDT, 2 November 2026 Martha Stewart has defended her decision to dress as a homeless person for Halloween, insisting the costume was 'intended' to raise 'awareness'.The lifestyle guru - who is worth around $400 million - sparked outrage over the weekend after she shared a picture of herself wearing torn clothes with dirt smeared across her face and wearing a sign around her neck which read: 'I am hungry. Help me!!'The photo was included in a carousel promoting her QVC holiday and Halloween candles that was captioned, 'My QVC candles are perfect for Halloween!!!!!' The stunt sparked outrage with Martha's followers calling the costume choice 'disgusting' and 'disappointing'.She later deleted the post and shared a statement explaining the costume was intended to raise awareness of the 'very serious subject' of homelessness in the US.Martha, 85, said: 'I've spent decades teaching others how to celebrate Halloween - sharing fun, festive recipes, providing unique craft ideas and giving tips on entertaining and hosting to make the most of one of my favorite holidays of the year. Martha Stewart has defended her decision to dress as a homeless person for Halloween, insisting the costume was 'intended' to raise 'awareness' 'I am distressed that my Halloween costume yesterday, which was intended to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness, has offended people, which was never my intention.'Homelessness continues to remain one of America's greatest challenges and ongoing crises, something that I care deeply about and I have spent a significant amount of time and effort supporting charities that combat this ongoing social epidemic.'I am committed to continuing to make a difference.'However, Martha later conceded her statement 'didn't go far enough' and she issued another apology via Instagram admitting her costume was 'insensitive' and 'not funny'.She wrote: 'It's hard to admit when you've really screwed up. My earlier statement didn't go far enough.'I know many people are suffering economically. Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry. Martha.'After deleting the original post, she uploaded a photo of a spookily-lit tree in her garden captioned 'Happy Halloween !!!!' but turned off comments on the post.Followers have instead flooded the star's previous posts with furious comments, with one writing: 'I'm very excited to see what you contribute going forward to help combat homelessness. Its great you were bringing 'awareness' as you put it. So now, why don't you show us what you're doing to help the problem?'The lifestyle guru - who is worth $400m - said: 'I know many people are suffering economically. Wearing a costume like I did was insensitive and not funny. I am very sorry' Martha conceded her first statement 'didn't go far enough' and she issued another apology via Instagram'Also, show us how much of your millions you're personally giving, rather than crowd funding from the public with average sized bank accounts..' 'Love Martha but how did no one on her PR team tell her that wasn't a good idea?' another asked. The apparent gag came off as especially insensitive given that Stewart is worth an estimated $400 million.For a time, she was the first female self-made billionaire in the US in 1999 when her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, went public on the New York Stock Exchange.Her impressive cache took a sharp decline following insider trading charges and a five-month prison sentence in 2004, and later market fluctuations for her company.Stewart's current wealth stems from real estate, book publications, media projects and brand partnerships, per Tasting Table.During a recent appearance on the Other People's Business podcast, Martha admitted she used to earn around '$65 million a year in royalties' from a previous deal with Kmart and she struggled as her empire collapsed but she's now built her business back up again.She said: 'I fell in a hole, and I lost about $1 billion... [The] lawyers took me to the cleaners.... I'm back [now]. I'm pretty good.'