NEWSIna Garten Says She 'Admires' Martha Stewart and Shares Where They Stand Today While Dispelling Feud Rumors
Ina Garten quelled all feud rumors between her and Martha Stewart.
Aug. 31 2026, Updated 2:59 p.m. ET
Ina Garten is getting candid about her bond with Martha Stewart.
Talking to The New York Times, she dispelled their years-long rumored feud, saying, “Can I just say I admire her enormously? I think what she created is stunning, and she did it with vision.”
She added, “I mean, we’re friendly; there’s no antipathy. She moved to Bedford, and she used to live in East Hampton, so we saw each other then.”
Ina Garten and Martha Stewart Have a Different Recollection of How They Lost Touch
Ina Garten said she 'admires' Martha Stewart while quelling feud rumors.
Back in 2024, Garten claimed that she lost touch with Stewart when she moved to Bradford.
Stewart, however, disagreed.
According to her recollection of the events that she shared with The New Yorker, “When I was sent off to Alderson Prison, [Garten] stopped talking to me. I found that extremely distressing and extremely unfriendly.”
While Garten disputed that, Stewart's publicist said her client was “not bitter at all, and there’s no feud.”
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Garten also touched on how Stewart helped launch her when she was first trying to move into things.
Addressing how there was a lot of pressure to be a "mini Martha," Garten said, "Well, that was one of the models. She changed how it happened. She did it brilliantly in her vision."
When asked how she knew it was not the right fit, Garten chuckled and said, "I’m clear. I’m determined."
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Ina Garten touched on how Martha Stewart helped launch her when she was first trying to move into things.
“It was her film crew that was filming a show for me. They kept saying to me, 'No, no, no, you can’t do it that way,'” she continued. “And I kept saying: 'You have Martha. You don’t need me to be Martha. You need me to be me.'”
"I don’t know why I knew that, but I was very clear that Martha does things a certain way, and I do them differently, and unless that film reflected who I was, it was going to look like I was trying to be Martha. And that’s not who I am," she added.
Garten was also asked if she found it frustrating that she was always put in juxtaposition with Stewart.
She replied, "I had an interesting conversation with Alison Roman recently. I said to her that she and I are kind of in a continuum that started with Julia Child, who wanted to teach people how to cook with real food."
Ina Garten revealed that there was a lot of pressure to be a 'mini Martha Stewart' in the beginning.
"When everybody was making boxed macaroni and cheese, she wanted you to appreciate a really good beef bourguignon. And then Martha came along and elevated home arts to something really worth doing well. Set a beautiful table. Make it a wonderful dinner. Carve out a pumpkin for the pumpkin soup," she went on.
Talking about when she came along, Garten added, "I came along and said: OK, maybe don’t carve out the pumpkin. Set a nice table, but it doesn’t have to be over the top, and make a lovely dinner and serve it."
"Then Alison Roman came along and said: Forget setting the table. Just put the pot of soup on the table and have a good time. And so I think everybody’s getting a little simpler and simpler, but at the end of the day, we all like the same thing, which is gathering people around a table," she concluded.
