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CNN Larry King Weekend
Highlights of Interviews With Martha Stewart
Aired August 12, 2001 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LARRY KING, HOST: Tonight: tasty treats, dazzling decorations -- got to be Martha Stewart. Next on LARRY KING WEEKEND.
Thanks for joining us. Last Friday Martha Stewart celebrated her 60th birthday. Hard to believe. In place of a cake, we thought we'd treat you to some highlights from our many interviews with her. Martha's one of our favorite guests, especially when she brings snacks. She's supplied more than good stuff to eat when she joined us in December of 1990.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, DECEMBER 17, 1990)
MARTHA STEWART: Well I thought that you'd have fun stenciling, remember we did a little bit of stenciling before.
KING: I love to stencil.
STEWART: You love it, I know it, I know it.
KING: I hear the word stencil and I just go...
STEWART: It's your thing ...
KING: ... berserk.
STEWART: I want to give you a corner of this beautiful hem- stitched linen napkin, because I know when you're serving your holiday dinner this year, you'll want to have these napkins. Hem-stitching is nice because it divides the center of the napkin that you use to...
KING: These are napkins that you would put by the guest.
STEWART: Yes.
KING: Regular napkin, that is.
STEWART: Yes. And then use a water soluble fabric paint that is washable. Once it dries, it stays on forever.
KING: And what am I going to do?
STEWART: And use little Japanese brushes, these are little stencil pouncer brushes.
KING: How so.
STEWART: And so, here's a moon. In the magazine we have these lovely stencils. There's a whole page of stencils that we give away. You can tear them out and use them. Isn't that nice?
KING: I never heard that.
STEWART: A little gift...
KING: Now what are we going to do
STEWART: ... from us to you. Take your little pouncer brush, and then very gently pounce -- not...
KING: Martha...
STEWART: ... on the napkin. Pounce, this way. That's pouncing.
KING: Pounce, that's pouncing. I'm not a pouncer Martha, I'm Jewish. We don't pounce.
STEWART: Oh -- there. And then when you see what happens, you just -- this has been sprayed with a little bit of adhesive -- there you have a beautiful moon.
KING: Oh, wow, look at that?
STEWART: Isn't that great?
KING: Look at that folks.
STEWART: And then there are also beautiful stars, and you can see them on this tablecloth. We made this tablecloth.
KING: So this tablecloth was made with the stencils.
STEWART: It was ...
KING: Look at this folks.
STEWART: ... and this is lovely cloth, and you can buy this, like this velvet and stencil velvet. You can make the most extraordinary table decorations, and it does not have to cost you a fortune.
KING: Then you put this little thing on...
STEWART: Yes, you can cut those out, little cardboard moons, painted gold. And the most costly thing about this whole thing is this pretty braid, if you can find this kind of stuff.
KING: What else can I do, Martha, or can you do that I watch?
STEWART: Another thing that we like to encourage -- this, when your napkin dries, just, if you have some napkin rings, just put it on. And look how pretty that looks for your table. KING: Oh that does.
STEWART: But I like to give useful gifts, too. And we have a whole section in the magazine about gifts that you can give that are unusual and will also teach people things, especially children. And this is a little saucer that you buy at the flower store. It's just a little plastic saucer. Or if you want to be a little bit more elaborate, you can get a pretty pottery dish like that. And give the children narcissus bulbs.
Do you know what narcissus are?
KING: No.
STEWART: Do you know what a narcissist is?
KING: A narcissist is a person who looks in the mirror all the time to find out how pretty they are.
STEWART: Well this beautiful flower is a narcissus, that pretty flower.
KING: You're kidding.
STEWART: Isn't that nice, it was named after the god. And it is a very fragrant springtime flower. And they grow from these bulbs. So what you do is package up as many as you want to give -- you can give six, twelve -- package them in these nice cellophane bags. So you give that, you give the gravel ...
KING: Where do you get narcissus bulbs?
STEWART: Here's the gravel, look, right out of the driveway, right out of the driveway.
KING: Serious, you took a driveway.
STEWART: I took this right out of my driveway today.
KING: Where do you get the narcissus bulbs?
STEWART: OK, any florist, any plant supplier.
KING: So you go to a plant guy to get the narcissus bulbs.
STEWART: Yes, and you say, I would like to have the forcing (ph) type of narcissus. Then you go to your driveway...
KING: And take the gravel.
STEWART: ... and take the gravel and wash it.
KING: What do we do with all of this?
STEWART: And then, here I'll show you, it's very easy. Here are some loose narcissus bulbs. Put a little gravel in here -- untie it. KING: I'm going to do this.
STEWART: You are, because look what you get, look what you get in just six to eight weeks -- you get these gorgeous flowers.
KING: Oh, we're going to grow them?
STEWART: Yeah, you're going to grow them.
KING: I thought we were just giving gravel.
STEWART: No, just a little, little first. Then put -- that's just the base. And then you put your narcissus -- and you have to use that again -- then you put four, six bulbs in here. We'll put four, because that's about what'll fit in this dish. And now secure them with more gravel. Just pour gravel up until the top.
KING: More gravel time.
STEWART: And then the only thing you have to do is add water and, if you wish -- there that's perfect -- see just keeps them down.
KING: Add water.
STEWART: Add water and in six to eight weeks, these have formed fantastic roots and they have grown tall and fragrant, fragrant flowers for your house.
So you can do this -- I mean, you can make so many. And if you want to make it even prettier, in another bag, offer as part of the gift, this pretty florist moss that you put on top so it looks kind of green. Isn't that nice?
KING: Sausalito, California with Martha Stewart, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hello.
Martha, I think your ideas are really great. And I'm wondering watching this, Larry seems just a bit like a fish out of water. And I'm wondering what tips you would have for, perhaps, a single man or someone who has been recently...
KING: Throw them back in the water.
All right, what about the single guy and "Martha Stewart's Living" magazine?
STEWART: Well, I tell you a lot of men are using the recipes. There's something like 81 recipes in that magazine, and there are 25 different cookie recipes. And you can -- you know, men like to bake, men like to cook, men like to decorate. And if you're living alone, don't you want a little bit of holiday cheer in your home at Christmas time?
KING: A little bit, yes.
STEWART: Do you do anything at home?
KING: I like cheer, Martha, yes. I have my little bushes and trees and little things. I like cheer. What is this?
STEWART: Well these are cookies in a little cellophane bag. Look how cute that looks. It's a token present. You know...
KING: A token.
STEWART: Well when I mean token, I mean it's a simple present...
KING: That's nice.
STEWART: ... but you've made it yourself, you've packaged it beautifully, and you feel real good about it.
KING: There's a special -- yeah.
STEWART: People love that, you take this to the office, take one for everybody in your office and you give that and you say, I made those cookies. They'll go crazy over them, I guarantee it.
KING: We'll be right back with Martha Stewart on LARRY KING LIVE. Don't go away.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Now what's your wife's name?
THE ROCK, PROFESSIONAL WRESTLER: Her name is Dany, D-A-N-Y. Very nice gnosh writing you have.
STEWART: You just have to have a steady hand and take your time.
THE ROCK: Can The Rock do like a little gnosh line?
STEWART: I want you to do the edge. Do a nice little scalloped edge all around.
THE ROCK: OK.
STEWART: Oh, beautiful, see, pretty.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back to LARRY KING WEEKEND. Tonight we're honoring Martha Stewart, who just celebrated her 60th birthday. Coincidentally, when she joined us in November '93, I had just marked my 60th.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, NOVEMBER 18, 1993)
KING: Now what is this?
STEWART: Oh, this is your birthday centerpiece, which I'm going to make for you. I brought it. You know, 60 -- is it 60 or 50, your birthday? Or 40 -- I don't know how old you are?
KING: Sixty. I don't look it, do I?
STEWART: Not at all, but copper is the metal of 60.
KING: Copper is 60. I knew this.
STEWART: I made that up.
KING: I don't know what I'm talking about, OK.
STEWART: I made it up. Anyway, but I thought it was very appropriate...
KING: A pumpkin?
STEWART: This is a pumpkin and we gilded it with copper for you.
KING: I'm touched.
STEWART: And I'm going to fill it with all these wonderful autumnal things, and you can have it for your party, and you can have it for Thanksgiving or whatever.
KING: That's wonderful, so you're going to just...
STEWART: Yeah, I'm going to just make it for you.
KING: Now, how do you do this? You just drop it in?
STEWART: Well these are things that we found, you know, sort of like found objects from the garden. These are cockscombs -- you know what those are?
KING: No.
STEWART: Well, they're sort of a wonderful autumn flower that comes in various colors. But I love this color with the copper. And this is bittersweet from the yard. These are all kinds of things that we always like to come up with.
I know you're real interested in this. I thought we were going to...
KING: No, I'm thinking...
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: I thought you were going to talk about NAFTA or something...
KING: No, here's what I just thought... STEWART: ... or Ross Perot.
KING: On the same show we've got Perot and Gore, I'm sitting with a pumpkin with copper. There's something weird about this.
STEWART: No, no it's not weird; it's about life.
KING: That's right, this show is about life.
STEWART: It is.
KING: That's what you're about, Martha, life, liberty. And so we -- this is going to eventually...
STEWART: Eventually, it should be -- it's fun if...
KING: What do you mean, you just throw it in, or you...
STEWART: No, no, no, place it nicely. We have these frogs there on the bottom of the...
KING: What are these things inside there?
STEWART: Those are called frogs, and they hold the object.
KING: Frogs?
STEWART: Right. And these are Chinese lanterns.
KING: I knew that.
STEWART: So it's -- these are nice little Chinese lanterns.
KING: What are these?
KING: Those are kind of a berry, a bittersweet berry. And here's some ivy, elderberries. But isn't it pretty? Look, it's already getting pretty.
KING: Of course, yes, it's autumnal, it's perfect November birthday thing. See, but I just want to throw it in.
STEWART: No, don't, don't -- piece by piece.
KING: What is this?
STEWART: Those are all kinds of wonderful flowers, kind of a...
KING: These have a nice smell, these...
STEWART: Yes, pretty.
KING: This is my centerpiece.
STEWART: This is your centerpiece for your party.
KING: This is for a Brooklyn party.
STEWART: Actually you're going to have lots of these tomorrow night at your party.
KING: Are they going to be lots of these? How do you know?
STEWART: No, I'm just guessing, but it's very appropriate.
KING: For Brooklyn? The 10th birthday party in Brooklyn, we didn't open...
STEWART: No, no, don't throw those in like that. Don't do that, one at a time.
KING: In Brooklyn, we had a little matzo ball soup and went to bed.
STEWART: Here, you cut.
KING: Oh, I've never done this.
STEWART: Yes, snip.
KING: Is this what I'm doing?
STEWART: Yes, you're doing a great job.
KING: I'm snipping now.
STEWART: You're snipping.
KING: OK, did I snip too much?
STEWART: We always have fun on LARRY KING. Hey, this is the greatest.
KING: Did I snip too much?
STEWART: No, perfect. Now, one at a time.
KING: Martha, Martha, when you go out on a social engagement...
STEWART: Yes.
KING: Like, with men, right?
STEWART: Do I?
KING: I mean, when you go out.
STEWART: Yes.
KING: Do you drive them nuts like this? I mean they come over to take you out to dinner. Are you sitting there, and you got them making this? I mean do you... STEWART: Some men like to do this, some men don't. Some men watch television, some men take me to football games, you know, that kind of stuff. It's...
KING: Yes, but you go to a football game, and you make them a doily, right?
STEWART: No, a monogram.
KING: That's right, a monogram.
STEWART: Anyway.
KING: I get that, OK.
STEWART: OK.
KING: This is my centerpiece.
STEWART: OK.
KING: Ooh.
STEWART: Very heavy, very...
KING: This is -- the centerpiece is called a hernia.
STEWART: No it's not, it's a gilded centerpiece.
KING: Hey, what do I know, I just work here. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "60 MINUTES," CBS)
ANDY ROONEY, CBS ANCHOR: I tried to show Martha Stewart how to make ice cream on television. I had heard Martha was hard to get along with, but that's not true. Martha is impossible to get along with.
STEWART: What was the name of your dairies?
ROONEY: You're trying to stop me from telling the story.
STEWART: Ours was the Seramie (ph) dairy...
ROONEY: Am I going to tell this story or are you going to tell your story?
STEWART: Do you remember the name of your dairy?
ROONEY: Yeah, it was Mannings.
STEWART: Mannings, ours was Seramie (ph).
ROONEY: Yeah.
Three times I told her not to put eggs in ice cream. She agreed with me.
STEWART: There are no eggs, which I like that idea a lot. There is heavy cream...
ROONEY: No eggs?
STEWART: Yeah, I like that idea.
ROONEY: If you put eggs in it, it's custard.
A month later she was on "The Early Show" with Bryant Gumbel making ice cream, and there she was putting eggs in it.
STEWART: Six egg yolks into the bowl of a mixer, and you beat these up...
ROONEY: I knew she wasn't listening. I like Martha anyway.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Welcome back. I always learn something when Martha Stewart comes on this show. In December of '94 she introduced me to blood oranges.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, DECEMBER 8, 1994)
KING: "The New York Times" said you were bringing me a cake.
STEWART: I brought you a cake. Here look at this.
KING: What is this?
STEWART: This is a delicious pound cake glazed with a blood orange glaze. And the blood oranges, you know, come from...
KING: What's that mean?
STEWART: Blood oranges, when you cut them open, they are red inside instead of orange. When I asked for a glass of orange juice once in a restaurant in Italy, I was given a glass of this dark red -- it looked like tomato juice. And I sent it back, saying no, no, no, you misunderstood. And, they said no, and they laughed at me. And I tasted it, and it was the most delicious orange juice I had ever tasted.
And it's blood oranges. Have you ever seen them?
KING: No, I don't think so.
STEWART: Well...
KING: I don't know if I've even heard the term. STEWART: Well, they grow them in Israel; it's a big crop for Israel. And they're prevalent around the Christmas time.
KING: Is this OK for heart patients?
STEWART: Oh yeah.
KING: Because pound cake you could eat.
STEWART: Yes, and this is pound cake, and it's very delicious -- glazed with this beautiful glaze. But I'll do that later, I'll show you how to glaze it. You're going to glaze it. This one's already glazed.
I have another one for you to try, because I want to get you in the cooking mode for the holidays.
KING: OK, I'm going to glaze it.
STEWART: This is the decorating glaze. OK, the decorating mode.
KING: All my life I wanted to glaze something.
STEWART: And these are rosebud garlands that you can make out of dried roses. You know, all those roses that you get from all those ladies, you just dry them on your stove. Just put them out and dry them. And then cut the rosebuds off like that. And here they are, individual. And you just use a needle and a thread and you go right through the soft rose, and you make yourself garlands. These are beautiful just in a wreath on your door.
KING: What makes you think of something like this? Do you know? Do you know how the thought enters your mind -- you know what, I'll take these roses, I'll let them go stale -- is that what they call it?
STEWART: No no, I'll let them go dry, that's why they still retain their pretty color.
KING: And then I'll hook them together with needle and thread -- I mean ...
STEWART: With a needle and thread.
KING: Where does this come from? I mean, it's terrific.
STEWART: Well, it comes from my love of nature, and it comes from my love of gardening, and of decorating. And I'm always trying to think of ideas that will be unusual, will be beautiful.
KING: So this is a garland of roses.
STEWART: Yes, a garland of roses.
KING: What else do we have?
STEWART: Well we have these balls that you hang on your tree. KING: Oh, these are cute.
STEWART: What's that made out of?
KING: Something fuzzy.
STEWART: Cockscomb.
KING: We slide into the next thing.
STEWART: That's cockscomb, it is, it's cockscomb.
KING: What is it?
STEWART: It's celosia (ph), it's a flower.
KING: It's not a flower.
STEWART: I don't have a whole one here to show you. Unfortunately that one's all ready. It is a flower...
KING: Oh, it's got a little fragrance.
STEWART: Yes, and it's dried. And when you dry it, it's just a beautiful velvety flower.
KING: Yes, feels nice.
STEWART: And they're, you know, they come in all different sizes. Some of the cockscombs are about this big.
KING: And you just hang them on trees.
STEWART: Yes.
KING: You're the kind of person -- we could drop you in a jungle or a desert somewhere, you would make a house, right? I mean, you could...
STEWART: Oh, I would like to, yes. And I would probably, because it would interest me, and I would also like to survive.
KING: But you are very handy, right. You are Ms. Handy.
STEWART: Right.
KING: Nothing you do is really expensive, is it?
STEWART: Not really, no, no. And I like to splurge...
KING: Let's do the cake here.
STEWART: Now the cake is the pound cake.
KING: By the way, in honor of Martha Stewart, we have an overhead cam here tonight... STEWART: I think you're getting so professional...
KING: ... first introduced by Jackie Gleason.
STEWART: So professional, it's very nice.
KING: Shoot you right down from above. Look at that, look at that, folks. OK.
STEWART: So, excellent, now...
KING: So, the pound cake.
STEWART: This is fun to do, because you can just -- this is the glaze made out of the blood orange juice. Taste it, just stick your finger in there. Taste it.
KING: I can stick my finger inside?
STEWART: Yes.
KING: This is not fattening?
STEWART: Nope, nope, it's just reduced blood orange...
KING: Now what do I do with it?
STEWART: Now with a tiny bit of sugar, just brush it all over the pound cake. And notice how I've made the pound cake. Instead of a loaf pan -- you know you usually see it square. I've made it in a turban mold.
KING: This is nice.
STEWART: Isn't it pretty?
KING: This is the way they glaze -- that's how this was glazed?
STEWART: Yes, and it just keeps soaking in, you just do it little by little and soak it into the cake so it adds that extra flavor and a little bit of...
KING: Do you know that I've never made anything?
STEWART: No.
KING: I swear to God.
STEWART: Really?
KING: Coffee, that's it.
STEWART: Well, you should try, because...
KING: A bagel, a toasted bagel I can do.
STEWART: So you just do it evenly all the way around.
KING: This is fun, I'm doing it even.
STEWART: You are, you're doing it perfectly.
KING: How do we taste it, can we taste this one?
STEWART: Yes, I'll give you a slice.
KING: You got to have a piece.
STEWART: I will.
KING: Can we call this my Larry King Glaze Cake?
STEWART: You can indeed. And maybe we'll rename it in the book for the next edition.
KING: Will you, the Larry King Glaze Pound Cake...
STEWART: OK.
KING: ... in the next edition.
STEWART: I will.
KING: OK, and I'm going to serve it to the crew along with this -- take another bite.
STEWART: Thank you.
KING: Show them that you really like your own stuff.
STEWART: I do; I just ate two big pieces.
KING: Yum.
STEWART: It's not polite to eat in front of the camera.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: Why do you always correct me, Martha? Why can't you just let it be on an even keel? Three little things.
STEWART: So delicious.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: More from our interviews with Martha Stewart when LARRY KING WEEKEND returns.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Tonight we're saying happy birthday to Martha Stewart and showing highlights of some of our interviews with her. When she joined us in '97, Martha's fame an fortune were on the rise, and so was criticism of her. An unflattering, unauthorized biography was released earlier that year, and I wanted to know how Martha was handling the heat.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, SEPTEMBER 16, 1997)
KING: Why you? Why do you think -- this could be any conjecture you want to offer -- that so many people seem after you?
STEWART: Well, I try not to think about it, Larry. It's...
KING: But everybody...
STEWART: It's the kind of thing that I sort of try to blank out now, because I don't have any time to deal with this kind of C-R-A-P. I don't have time. I am really busy and I have so many good things to do, so many things on my mind that I really would like to get across to the public. The daily television show is very time-consuming, as you know. And I don't have time.
And I am dealing with nice things every minute of the day. Today, I filmed with Ellen Greves (ph), who is the young chef at Takushimia (ph) Tea Box. Now that is as nice as you can get, as gentle, and as subtle, and as beautiful and so why should I be picked on? I don't know.
KING: When you don't comment, it looks like, well, you write a book about you, say a lot of bad things. If you don't comment, it looks like agreement. Today no comment doesn't go.
STEWART: No, It's funny. It's something that bothers me too that I have been more on the defensive than on the offensive. I am not that kind of person.
KING: I can tell.
STEWART: I am not a stand-back kind of person, let them roll me over with a steam-roller kind of person. But, it's not worth, sometimes, arguing. It's not worth my time to -- pick back. You know, it's just not.
KING: But, I mean, like, thousands of people -- there are thousands of lawsuits filed every day in America. Someone files a lawsuit against you over what, a ground incident -- grass.
STEWART: One? How about nine.
KING: There were nine lawsuits against you?
STEWART: Nine. And I'd like to point out to you, because I have never said this to any press person, any journalist. I have never sued anyone for anything. I am not a litigious person, no matter what you read in these silly stories.
KING: You have never filed a lawsuit?
STEWART: Never. KING: Why do you think you're so, don't know the English here, "liturgized" against, why you?
STEWART: Because -- well, all of a sudden I become a well-known person. I've become a person who is ostensibly -- has ostensibly made it. I'm perceived as extremely wealthy now, even though I am not. I may be someday. But, I am not right now. I am working, I am still working. I'm still on my way up that ladder.
KING: In other words, you still have to go to work.
STEWART: I still go to work 24 hours a day.
KING: Do you think there's jealousy involved here?
STEWART: Well, I'm sure there's jealousy. I am sure there's envy. I am sure there's misunderstanding. I am sure there's all kinds of things like that. They don't understand what I do.
KING: All right. When that book came out, it was a best seller. That means a lot of people are interested in you. Why didn't you come right out against it?
STEWART: Well, what good would it have done? It would only have made them to go look at the book a little bit more closely. It's off the best seller less list now. It's a dead book.
KING: Did you read it?
STEWART: No.
KING: Come on.
STEWART: I didn't.
KING: Did not read the book?
STEWART: No, I was not curious. I have read parts of it in press releases, of course, picking up -- so ridiculous, the most ridiculous thing was something I read, I guess it was in "USA Today" or someplace, about my parakeets.
KING: What about them?
STEWART: I don't know. When I was married, I had three beautiful parakeets, you know, and one of them flew out the window. I mean, who knows that story? There's only one person who knows that story, you know?
KING: Your ex-husband?
Yeah. So, why is he talking about my dead parakeets? It was a painful thing when they died.
KING: This -- that you're a different person off camera than on, that you throw things, that you are -- you have a terrible temper. You're tough to be around -- where did that start?
STEWART: I don't know. In that book -- in that book, not one of my friends is quoted, not one friend is quoted .
KING: Not one?
STEWART: Not one.
KING: When you read a lie, and everyone who gets in tabloids reads a lot of -- how do you react to it? In other words, it's like an absurdity.
STEWART: It's pointed out to me. I don't get press clippings, but my publicist does. And Susan will call up and say you should see this one, you know, I have to see them because just like all letters that come to me, because I am sort of curious about what is happening and what is being said and I have to be prepared for questions like yours so -- from friends, and yet, really and truly, I have to ignore it. I can't let it eat away at me, because if it does and puts me in are a bad mood, how can I be in a good mood?
KING: Do you like some of the fun parodies they do of you?
STEWART: No.
KING: Don't like any of them?
STEWART: They're not funny.
KING: "Saturday Night Live," don't like ...
STEWART: ... I didn't see that one. I heard that was sort of funny, but I didn't see that one. But, I could do those parodies a lot better. And if they knew me, they could do them a lot better. My friends could do parodies much better.
KING: How do you react to this?
We'll be back with Martha Stewart right after this.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
KING: Tonight we're looking back at our interviews with Martha Stewart. Her company's stock went public a couple of years ago. On October 18, 1999 Martha Stewart went to bed worth about $250 million. The next morning she was a billionaire, and I asked her what that was like.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, FEBRUARY 2, 2000)
STEWART: Well, sort of exciting, and certainly rewarding, and certainly felt good that finally, you know, my company was worth what I thought it was.
KING: Did it change your life any?
STEWART: Oh, not at all. I've only worked harder since, and haven't had a chance, not even a minute, to spend any money, so.
KING: It is paper, though, right? I mean, it breeds off of -- you don't walk around with it?
STEWART: Well, as a shareholder in the company and restricted, I have not even been able to sell a share of stock, so it's like -- and I chose not to sell any in the offering. So it hasn't changed one iota, Larry?
KING: Was this a goal of yours? Did Martha Stewart always want the a business?
STEWART: I always wanted to work toward a goal. I didn't know -- I wasn't working toward the goal of mine so much as the goal of a successful entrepreneurial venture that really serve and purpose. I've always said that to you. You know, I've always said that.
KING: At what age did this start? Were you thinking like this when you were a teenager? Did you do things in high school to...
STEWART: Well, I've always liked to work for the reward of satisfaction and the reward of some monetary gain, because you know, if you're going to work, you might as well get paid for your work. I feel that sincerely, and then you can always give back. But it wasn't always -- it wasn't driven by any specific kind of goal as much by a self-motivation to learn, and to teach, and to do, and to succeed, and to help others and create a lot of really great information that other people could use.
KING: How do you get to know what you know? I mean, you know so many things about -- you know how to make lasagna, and you know how the put together a...
STEWART: Well, how do you know what you know? You know so much.
KING: No, I ask. I am curious about things.
STEWART: Well, I am, too. I am extremely curious, and I learn something new every day, which is one of our real mottoes. And to learn something new every day is a goal of mine. Today, we had this great guy on, and I learned all about the creation of the Oxford English Dictionary, and theology and all of the great stuff that has to go with the understanding of words. And so I try every single day to try to do something that is just kind of awe inspiring to me.
We had the chef from the Four Seasons restaurant, and he was making his delicious cookies, which I've been eating for years and not really knowing how to make his particular kind of cookies. So every day I go from, like making cookies to talking about the dictionary, the great dictionary, to making a weddings bouquet, to talking about the right kind of house plants for the right kind of conditions. So it's a very, very varied business that I am in, and it's a lot of fun.
KING: By the way, what makes a good caterer?
STEWART: A good caterer is someone who pays attention to what the customer wants, what the customer likes, and then does a better job than the customer can imagine.
KING: The caterer brings food the customer wants, not what the caterer wants.
STEWART: Exactly.
KING: Some caters don't know that, right?
STEWART: Oh yes, definitely.
KING: You will definitely have this...
STEWART: Oh yes. That's why you have to know your customer, too, and you have to really pay attention.
KING: As we go to break, here's a historic moment in Martha Stewart's life. She rings the bell the day her company goes public. Watch.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, FEBRUARY 2, 2000)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE")
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Today on "Living" we'll celebrate what I feel is the real essence of Valentine's Day, loneliness and shame. I'll show you some innovative ways to enjoy this holiday solo, by yourself, in the deafening silence of your own home.
(LAUGHTER)
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: A terrific way to combat Valentine's depression is to treat yourself to an erotic cake. I modeled this almond sponge cake after Michelangelo's David.
Now that's a sweet piece of ass.
(LAUGHTER)
(END VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: I hadn't seen that.
KING: Do you get a kick when they do -- you hadn't seen that?
STEWART: No, I hadn't.
KING: Do you get a kick when they do you, or not?
STEWART: Oh yes, my gosh, yes, if it's not too bad.
KING: It's flattering.
STEWART: Yes, it is. I mean, any kind of good parody is good.
KING: "Saturday Night Live," though, you're a frequent target, if that's the favored word.
STEWART: Yes, I know. They have never asked me to host. I don't know why.
KING: No. They should. Would you?
STEWART: Oh, yes, it's the greatest.
KING: They should.
STEWART: I have been watching "Saturday Night Live" for many, many years and I like it.
KING: Here's another critique of yours that our spies give us: that you recommend doing things most people would never have the time or inclination to do, like gluing buttons on light bulbs. You did that in a recent magazine. On a Web site now, there are tips on how to make your own tubes and pots of lip balm? This is a put-on right?
STEWART: No, people do that...
KING: Lip balm is 25 cents.
STEWART: No it's not. Have you checked the price lately?
KING: No, I don't buy lip balm.
STEWART: It's much, much more expensive than that, and this is a very nice health...
KING: Make your own lip balm.
STEWART: Yes, health -- soap -- you -- we sell so many soap- making kits.
KING: Soap-making kits?
STEWART: It makes me smile, because when I...
KING: Soap is three bars for a what?
STEWART: Well, it depends on what kind of soap, not homemade soap, not beautiful...
KING: Is homemade soap better?
STEWART: Oh yes, definitely.
But, Larry, people love little tasks. They love little crafts. They -- not everything we suggest is difficult. We have a whole lot of things we call good things that are not so complicated to do. And a lot of people really get a lot of enjoyment really out of just understanding how things are done and not actually ever making them themselves.
KING: Does it bother you when the tabloids go off on you?
STEWART: It did for a while, but now I am kind of used to it. I think it goes with the territory and I just don't read it anymore.
KING: Ever think of suing?
STEWART: I did.
KING: You did. Lost or won or...
STEWART: We settled.
KING: Akron, Ohio, hello?
CALLER: Hi, Martha.
STEWART: Hi.
CALLER: I have read in a various magazine that you only sleep about four to five hours a night. How do you function all day with all your many activities?
STEWART: Well, I'm finding that I just don't need a lot of sleep.
KING: By the way, is that true?
STEWART: Yes, yes.
KING: Four to five?
STEWART: Yes. Sometimes less. But it's -- I don't need a lot of sleep. I also am very good at cat napping, so I can cat nap in the car if I am coming -- you know, tonight from Connecticut we worked all day in the studio and I came down here, I can cat nap sometimes if I don't have too many phone calls or things to read. So I'm good at that. But some people need a lot of sleep; some people don't.
KING: By the way, when someone gets an image whether true or not of being tough, and hard and very -- by that I mean, you know, very stick-to-it-ivism and professional and perfectionist, do you find you intimidate people, do you think?
STEWART: I think probably because I am a perfectionist, I might make people nervous, some people who get nervous because of that. But in a business being a perfectionist is really important.
You just don't want to -- I mean, it's like if you're going to make a wedding cake for somebody, that better be the best wedding cake you can possibly create, because why disappoint? You know, make that perfect cake. You don't want to send something out that's kind of sloppy.
KING: Considering the wedding, by the way, and one of the more expensive aspects of the father of a daughter's life, can you make really good inexpensive weddings?
STEWART: Absolutely.
KING: Can you put together a really super wedding that doesn't cost $200 a person?
STEWART: Oh, yes. Oh, $200 is cheap, Larry. Where have you been? Yes, $200 is cheap.
KING: You can put together low-cost weddings?
STEWART: Oh, you can, absolutely. A lot of things can be done by one's self, by one's family. You can create a very, very nice wedding for less than $200 a person, but that's modest compared to what a lot of people are spending these days.
KING: Like what's a typical big wedding cost?
STEWART: Oh, hundreds of thousands of dollars now some of these big weddings, but I would say an average -- an average wedding when I wrote my first book in 1986 was $30,000. And now it's way, way more than that, probably more around $80,000.
KING: You're right. I just thought of my daughter's wedding, hit it on the head.
STEWART: Eighty?
KING: Yes, right in there. Why didn't I know you better? We'll be right back with more of Martha Stewart. In a little while you'll see some flowers. Don't go away.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MARTHA STEWART LIVING")
STEWART: It used to be that, if you had a very acid soil, the hydrangeas would be bluer; more alkaline soil, your hydrangeas would be pinker. But I think, now with the strong hybrids that these flowers are coming in, they stay truer to their color than ever before. Look at that fantastic mop head.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MARTHA STEWART LIVING TELEVISION")
STEWART: And again, Martha, we have our spray snow.
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Right. STEWART: Perfect. And a little box like this actually helps you keep the spray snow in one place. You don't want to get it all over the house.
And just spray...
UNIDENTIFIED ACTRESS: Do want to remind everyone that we need to ventilate for this technique because right now I'm high as a kite.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: Tonight we're honoring Martha Stewart, and we welcome you back on the occasion of her 60th birthday. She recently joined us back in February. Still in her 50s at the time, Stewart was continuing to enjoy huge success, from TV shows, to books, to the Internet, this billionaire seemed to have hands in every kind of media cookie jar. And I wondered what motivated her.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, FEBRUARY 2, 2001)
KING: What is your need? Obviously, it's not money anymore.
STEWART: No, my need is to get things done. I have an urge to get things done -- still.
KING: All kinds of things.
STEWART: All kinds, oh, yes, oh, yes. All kinds of things.
I'm always experimenting. I'm always continuing with my curious nature, always trying to discover new areas that have not been treated in a good way before. You know, we sort of made home keeping a business. We made it a real business niche now. And so what's the next thing? I really think that maybe it is organizing the homemaker. I think that every one of us needs to be better organized. We want to have more time. We don't want to waste time. We want to make time for good things. We want to spend more time with our family. Look at you: two young kids. Don't you want to spend more time with the kids?
KING: Sure.
STEWART: So how can we help you spend more time with your children, not waste time doing silly things, or things that are everyday things that you have to do, but we could help you do them much faster.
KING: You goal, though, isn't the dollar? The dollar is the result of what you do.
STEWART: Yes. And I believe in that. I believe in profiting from my efforts, as I think all of us probably should, unless we are doing pro bono work that's very necessary and people can't afford to pay for it. And I do love that kind of work. But if you are going to work as hard as I work -- and that's seven days a week, 24 hours a day, pretty much -- it is nice to profit from it.
KING: And what does it do to your personal life?
STEWART: I have a great life. You know, a great life.
KING: You do? You have a personal life, a social life?
STEWART: Yes. I'm getting better. I'm getting better. Yes, I'm spending a little bit more time on my own personal thoughts and my own personal...
KING: Do you want to remarry again?
STEWART: Someday. You always ask me that.
KING: No, because, you know, I mean...
STEWART: You are married now. Too bad.
KING: You certainly have -- we could have been -- what could have been. But you were certainly a catch.
STEWART: Oh, I don't know if I'm a catch or not. I mean, I'm probably a pretty horrible, horrible catch.
KING: Are you tough to work for? I mean, that has been written you: that you are demanding and a perfectionist.
STEWART: I think I'm demanding. I think that I am a perfectionist. I think that I'm fair. And I think that people who work for me and get along with me realize what a good result there is.
KING: Do they get paid well?
STEWART: Oh, everyone gets paid well, definitely.
KING: But you expect maximum effort?
STEWART: I believe -- well, yes. But I think any serious CEO in this country expects maximum effort from a staff.
KING: Some people say you are so good at so many things that you make people feel inferior.
STEWART: Well, that is too bad.
KING: Do you ever think that -- do you ever get that feeling that people feel...
STEWART: You know, but I think less and less. I think people really realize now that this is my schtick. I'm going to make things. I'm going to do things. I'm going to cook. And I'm going to clean. And I'm going to also, you know, go ice climbing in Alaska. And heaven forbid, but that is what I'm going to do. And I think they realize that I'm an eclectic. I like doing a lot of things. I like mastering a lot of things. I like seeing if I can do something.
And if I can't do it, I will admit I can't do it. KING: What is -- they told me to ask you about this, because I have no idea what this is, and I may not even pronounce it right. But what the heck -- is this a person or a thing? Feng Shui.
STEWART: Oh, feng shui.
KING: Is this a guy?
STEWART: No, no. Much more important.
KING: Feng shui.
STEWART: It is...
KING: It's a Chinese dish.
STEWART: Well, sort of. Except that it is the placement of you in your environment and your environment in the world to make your life harmonious. I think that's the best way to describe it.
KING: Give me example of what you're talking about.
STEWART: Well, is your bed on the right wall facing the right way so that you can sleep well? People really believe this, OK; they really do.
KING: Do you?
STEWART: I have never applied the science of feng shui to my life.
KING: This is an Asian concept?
STEWART: It is. But it is something that many, many, many, many people, many books, many articles have been devoted to in the last few years especially, because all of a sudden the spiritual, those who are really quite spiritual or feel that they can live better if they are oriented in the right direction. I'm oriented in the right direction all the time, so...
KING: You know you're right.
STEWART: Yes.
KING: Is there a special place the bed should be? Will you sleep better if the bed is on that wall or...
STEWART: Well, maybe my feng shui is that I must have air and light and windows that open. All my offices are like that. I searched New York for buildings where the windows open, even on the 24th floor. So our offices have windows that open. The building must have natural gas, and I don't mean that rudely, but gas to cook by, because I like cooking on gas stoves. So it has to have gas. It has to have sunlight.
KING: Do you drive hotels nuts? STEWART: No.
KING: You don't.
STEWART: No. All I care about in the hotel is that my room isn't the last room down a long dark hallway. I'd rather have it close to the elevators so I can get out fast.
KING: We'll be right back with Martha Stewart. If I have to tell you who this is, you've got severe problems. We'll be right back.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, LARRY KING LIVE, DECEMBER 28, 2000)
KING: Martha Stewart.
JULIA CHILD, AUTHOR, "JULIA'S KITCHEN WISDOM": She is great real.
KING: You like her?
CHILD: And she is a real pro. Oh, I have been on with her two or three times. And she really knows what she is doing. And she is tough.
KING: Is she a cook?
CHILD: She is a cook. Everything she does, she does very, very well.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(END VIDEOTAPE)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE, FEBRUARY 2, 2001)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP, "MARTHA STEWART LIVING")
STEWART: What other changes did you make in here?
SEN. HILLARY RODHAM CLINTON (D), NEW YORK: This was all changed: the drapes, the wallpaper, the rug.
STEWART: The chandelier's original?
CLINTON: The chandelier's original. One of my biggest challenges was, you know, how to try to put the border on the top to make it look like it was, you know, drapery.
STEWART: I love that.
CLINTON: Isn't that nice.
STEWART: Oh, I think it's... CLINTON: I had them cut out. There was a piece that was originally there between the ceiling and the wallpaper which I had cut out. And I thought it looked more like it was actually hanging there.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
KING: What did you think of how the White House is laid out?
STEWART: Oh, well, I think it's a most beautiful house.
KING: But what do you think of what they did with the furnishings?
STEWART: Well, they had a nice impact on the main rooms, yes. I did not get to go upstairs. And I have never been up there yet. But someday maybe I will visit. But that was a very interesting segment to do with Mrs. Clinton, because we got to go downstairs. We got go to the flower room. We got to go the social secretary's office, to the calligrapher's Office, all kinds of places where, generally, you are not admitted.
And it is an extraordinary place. The flower room is filled with verimay (ph), silver verimay from 19th century.
KING: And she knows her stuff, right?
STEWART: Oh, she really does know the history.
KING: We don't think of her in the homemaking venue.
STEWART: Not necessarily. Maybe now that she has a house of her own again, she will have to spend more time thinking about it. But she is business. She is all business, that lady. She's great.
KING: The pursuit of perfection, does it ever you nuts? I mean, because when someone requires perfection, a thread out of place drives you nuts.
STEWART: Yes, I don't think about the -- that tiny a thing anymore. I'm looking at a big picture now. As a public company, we have to look at a lot of things. And that does influence my view of perfectionism. I used to go into a person's home, and if their copper pots were a little bit tarnished, I would have to polish them. Now, I say: Well, you know, that is not that important. But...
KING: But you must cringe at a sloppy house.
STEWART: I don't cringe. I think: Oh, God, where are they, you know? What are they doing?
KING: But those people would say to you: Live a little. All you do is worry about...
(CROSSTALK)
STEWART: No, they are not. Oh, no, they come to my house and they think: Oh, I just wish my house could be as clean and nice and comfy as this.
KING: You work at it yourself a lot, right?
(CROSSTALK)
KING: You're not a servant-oriented person.
STEWART: No, I'm not. I'm not.
KING: You cook.
STEWART: I cook. I still clean. I iron. But I iron because I want to know what it really takes to iron now. I just got myself one of those big new hotel ironing machines that can iron, you know, five napkins at the same time in one big sheet.
KING: There's a new iron?
STEWART: It's a new ironing machine. And it is fantastic. So it's the mechanics, too, that interest me: to see how you can save time. I want to save time.
KING: We have a picture of you taken by Kevyn Aucoin. Now, that is you. It's not Veronica Lake.
STEWART: That is last year. Isn't that great?
KING: How did they do that?
STEWART: Well, first of all: a wig. He had that wig specially made for me. My hair was plastered down on my head and tied in a knot in the back so that it would be good and, you know, tight and flat.
KING: And that is in his book called "Face Forward."
STEWART: Yes. And he...
KING: Kevyn Aucoin.
STEWART: Aucoin.
KING: Yes.
STEWART: Yes. Yes. And then, in about 45 minutes, he applied that makeup to me and dressed me in this old beautiful antique black lace dress, ala 1930s, '40s whatever -- you know, whatever the era. And he photographed me himself.
KING: OK. And what did you think of it?
STEWART: I thought it was very glam.
KING: Glam.
STEWART: Glam.
(LAUGHTER)
KING: But people would not say it's you. They say it's Veronica Lake.
STEWART: Oh, no. He happened to meet my daughter on the street with his portfolio. And he showed her the Veronica Lake picture, which was his inspiration. And she said, "Oh, that is my mom when she was modeling." And she thought Veronica Lake was me. So...
KING: You -- did you wear your hair like that?
STEWART: Oh yes.
KING: Always so fashionable.
STEWART: Oh yes.
KING: What about food in America, the state of American cuisine, fast foods and the like?
STEWART: Well, I'm not so interested in fast food as I'm interested in good food. And on our show, we have...
KING: Can that be the same?
STEWART: Oh, they can be the same, and that's the rub. And if you can make it as good as Jean George cooks it or Daniel -- those guys are really the geniuses of the modern age of food. I think that they really understand the ingredients, they understand the fresh aspects, they understand the lightness.
They understand that -- you know, have you seen chefs lately, most of the chefs? They are the most handsome guys on earth. They are thin. They are...
KING: Wolfgang Puck is flying through the air now.
STEWART: Oh, he's just doing amazingly well. He...
KING: Who's the other guy that's the rage?
STEWART: Oh, Emeril.
KING: Emeril.
STEWART: Emeril on the Food Network. But these guys are -- he's a -- he's a little sloppy. You know...
KING: Emeril's a little sloppy?
STEWART: Yes, a little sloppy, and his food is a little sloppy. But not -- but he's good.
But I'm talking about -- I'm talking about...
KING: Do you mean the food, does it have to be perfect in the pan for you?
STEWART: No, no. I'm saying that the food has to be that healthy, delicious, beautiful, you want to eat it all the time kind of food.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
KING: We hope you've enjoyed this look back at our interviews with Martha Stewart. Happy Birthday Martha.
And thanks for watching LARRY KING WEEKEND. I'm going home, going to make some chap stick. Good night.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
STEWART: Betty, your curator, said that this is one of her favorite things in the White House.
CLINTON: Well, it is for me, too. And it was in Georgia O'Keeffe's possession at the time of her death. It was part of her estate. She left very firm instructions that it should never be framed. When we saw the colors and how they worked with the colors here in this room, we just knew this was where it belonged.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
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