During an appearance this weekend on Andy Cohen’s messy and drama-prone Bravo talk show, “Watch What Happens Live,” Martha Stewart stoked the fires of a feud between herself and her fellow culinary mogul, Ina Garten.
The pair has long presented a familiar dichotomy to the world of homemaking television, with Ms. Stewart, 83, as the blonde perfectionist and Ms. Garten, 76, as the friendly brunette. They became close friends in the 1990s, but have since had a falling out — and they have decidedly different views of what transpired.
Here is what you need to know about the feud and whose side Snoop Dogg is taking.
What happened on Sunday?
During a segment on Mr. Cohen’s show, he asked Ms. Stewart, who was on set with her frequent companion Snoop Dogg, if she had read Ms. Garten’s memoir, “Be Ready When the Luck Happens.” The memoir, which was published on Oct. 1, details Ms. Garten’s difficult childhood and her road to culinary fame.
“I’ve read parts of it,” Ms. Stewart responded. When Mr. Cohen asked her, “What was your take?” she said, “She can write whatever she wants.”
At this point, Snoop Dogg interjected and inquired about what Ms. Garten had written in her memoir.
“Ina said that they fell out because she moved to Connecticut,” Mr. Cohen said. (He meant to say Bedford, N.Y.)
“That’s not true,” Ms. Stewart said, before Snoop Dogg added that “Martha don’t fall out with people.”
Ms. Stewart told Mr. Cohen that the pair had, in fact, lost touch after she went to prison in West Virginia for insider trading in 2004. Snoop Dogg joked, “See, that’s when I stepped in. Real friend, you know what I’m saying?”
A day after the appearance, when asked if she sees her friendship with Ms. Garten ever being rekindled, Ms. Stewart told People magazine, “No, she’s into her own thing. That’s OK.”
How did this all start?
On the talk show, Ms. Stewart doubled down on comments she had made in a profile of Ms. Garten published by The New Yorker on Sept. 2.
Ms. Garten told The New Yorker at the time that she and Ms. Stewart lost touch after Ms. Stewart began spending more time in Bedford.
Ms. Stewart had a different take. “When I was sent off to Alderson Prison, she stopped talking to me,” Ms. Stewart said. “I found that extremely distressing and extremely unfriendly.” Ms. Garten denied this.
Susan Magrino, Ms. Stewart’s publicist, clarified to The New Yorker at the time that Ms. Stewart was “not bitter at all and there’s no feud.”
How long have they been friends?
The celebrity chefs met and became friends in the 1990s in the Hamptons, where they both lived at the time.
Ms. Stewart, according to The New Yorker’s story, was a fan of the lemon bars at Ms. Garten’s now-closed store in East Hampton, the Barefoot Contessa. The first issue of the magazine Martha Stewart Living, which was published in 1990, included an article about Ms. Garten and her store, and the two formed a personal and professional relationship. Ms. Stewart even helped Ms. Garten secure her first book deal after she had brought a publisher to her store.
Though they’re no longer friends, they had managed to keep their falling out away from the public until last month. Representatives for Ms. Garten and Ms. Stewart did not immediately respond to requests for comment for this article.
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