The Mega-Rich Backlash Has Claimed Its Latest Victim. I Never Thought It Would Be Her.

Fame The Mega-Rich Backlash Has Finally Come for Martha Stewart—and That’s a Good Thing Taylor Hill/WireImage Sign up for the Slatest to get the most insightful analysis, criticism, and advice out there, delivered to your inbox daily. Followers of Martha Stewart—specifically her personal Instagram account @marthastewart48—were treated to a last-minute Halloween jump scare on Saturday when the domestic diva posted a carousel promoting her QVC line of spooky candles. But it wasn’t the stenciled owls and bats that shocked. The fright came from a third image showing Stewart—a one-time billionaire with a current estimated net worth around half that much (sad!)—in costume as a homeless person. The look, which was presented on the steps of one of the multiple houses on her Westchester “Cantitoe Corners” property alongside two of her dogs, featured ripped jeans and a ratty cardigan, along with a flannel shirt, black beanie hat, and, of course, dirt (or a surely non-comedogenic product like it) smeared across her face. In case the fit didn’t scan, she held a sign reading: “I AM HUNGRY HELP ME!!” Comments sections everywhere quickly exploded in exactly the way you’d expect. On Reddit, one person wrote, “I … am actually speechless that people still do shit like this in 2026,” a sentiment that reverberated around the internet all weekend long. The photo was quickly deleted and Stewart issued a pair of apologies. But before we consider those, it’s worth noting the nature of the account at issue. There are a number of slick corporate, professionally run social media channels that promote Martha Stewart-branded content; this is not one of them. @marthastewart48 is where Stewart herself is known to post (though assistants are also likely sometimes involved)—usually, it’s updates on the constant landscaping and home improvement projects on her estates, snaps from fancy events, and often-viral glamour shots that belie her 85 years. Many of these feature rustic captions accented with odd phrasing, spacing, and typos. I relate all of this to say: While obviously I can’t be sure, I am almost certain this photo made it into the candle carousel by a slip of the manicured finger. This theory is, I think, supported by Stewart’s own mea culpas. On Sunday, her team issued a statement to the press saying that she was “distressed” that her costume “offended people, which was never my intention.” Instead, it was intended, the statement read, “to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness,” adding that the plight of unhoused people “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.” (One of those organizations she’s mentioned in the aftermath, God’s Love We Deliver, does not, in fact, work directly on homelessness.) Critics were understandably not impressed with the ol’ “sorry you were offended” tack and continued to make their displeasure known on unrelated posts, and so later, Stewart added a further note to Instagram: “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.” Neither of these, I believe we can agree, gets around to explaining the context for Stewart’s costume (the deleted post’s caption merely read “My QVC candles are perfect for Halloween!!!!!”) or how exactly it would work to raise “awareness” or why an ad would be an effective venue. On top of that, acknowledging that dressing as a starving person is “not funny” suggests that you definitely thought it was, and calling homelessness a “social epidemic” is just about the most patrician, alien way of describing poverty that I can imagine. No, this photo has nothing to do with candles and was probably never meant to be seen by the public. If I’m wrong, and she really thought this all made sense, there’s more to be concerned about with Stewart than just a social media mishap. Now, many people will not be surprised to hear that a wealthy woman is out here mocking the less fortunate. Fair enough. But for fans of Stewart—a group in which I would begrudgingly include myself—this slip of the uncannily dewy mask is hard to reckon with. For a few years now, America has been awakening to the gross excesses and pernicious influence of the mega-rich like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. However, while admittedly not quite as loaded or politically engaged as those guys, Stewart has largely avoided the ire of the huddled masses—she’s somehow felt like a good rich person, at least relatively speaking. How has she accomplished this? For one thing, a lot of people feel that she was unfairly scapegoated during the insider trading and jail time episode, and she’s enjoyed a certain sympathy from many since then. But the image and market niche Stewart has cultivated over the years has also acted as a shield. Her version of lifestyle aspiration is one that’s still possible to share, or at least stomach, however out of reach it may increasingly be—everyone wants a nice house or a homecooked meal after all, and the elegant but not ostentatious vibe she projects with her home and garden content expertly hangs just far enough back from the outer limits of relatability. Stewart also does a few things that many of us claim we wish the mega-rich would focus on, rather than meddling in the democratic process or sailing monstrous yachts from port to port. She uses her money to add beauty to the world (see her work for the New York Botanical Garden for example, or even just the lifestyle content itself), she does donate to charity, and in recent years, she’s made a point of having fun with her celebrity, being willing to joke about her persnickety persona and to trade weed quips with Snoop Dog. While Stewart’s polish can certainly be off-putting, for me and many others she generally feels like a force for betterment in an era of decay. That she is both classy and entertaining goes a long way toward making someone who is detached from people “suffering economically” in her daily life seem not totally odious, even “good”—if you don’t squint too hard. For Stewart fans, then, the homeless “help me” debacle is a healthy reminder that she is in fact just another rich person who doesn’t really comprehend the struggles of normal people. I am sure a great wave of compensatory philanthropy is being stirred up by her PR team as we speak. But her mock-dirty face has shown us who she really is, regardless of whether, as one of her apologies claimed, she is “committed to continuing to make a difference.” Aside from parting with some cash, maybe the best thing she could do right now is log-off for a while. As of writing, the most recent post on her Instagram was in praise of a fancy pastry shop that just opened in Brooklyn. One commenter captured the mood perfectly: “‘let them eat cake’ amirite?” Celebrities Halloween Instagram Internet Culture