Rachael Ray and Martha Stewart were guests on each other’s show. The ladies acted cordial enough on the shows, but when Big-Bad Martha was asked about Rachael afterwards… she got out of pocket like a true con would:
Pop the top and peep
Rachael Ray churns out cookbooks and TV shows, but she can’t hold a candle to the grandmother of the how-to genre – Martha Stewart.
That’s according to Stewart.
Stewart told ABC News’ Cynthia McFadden that Ray’s approach to cooking – and cookbook writing – is “not good enough for me.” In her first TV interview since spending five months locked up in 2004-05 for lying to investigators about a stock trade, Stewart said Ray has admitted she can’t bake and that one of Ray’s recent cookbooks was a compilation of old, re-edited recipes.
“I mean, I really want to write a book that is unique and a lasting thing,” Stewart said in an interview airing on “Nightline” tonight at 11:35 on ABC. “Something that will really fulfill a need in someone’s library. So, she’s different. She’s – more of an entertainer than she is, with her bubbly personality, than she is a teacher, like me. That’s not what she’s professing to be.”
Ray, who recently appeared on Stewart’s daytime show, told ABC she’s okay with Stewart’s comment. “Why would it make me mad?” Ray told ABC. “Her skill set is far beyond mine. That’s simply the reality of it. That doesn’t mean what I do isn’t important, too … I don’t consider it needling. I really just think she’s being honest.”
Ray said Stewart can indeed create a wonderful meal. “I’d rather eat Martha’s than mine, too,” she said. Stewart spoke to McFadden at a key point for her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, which has been battered since she spent time behind bars.
The company lost almost $16 million last year and has posted a $35 million loss so far this year. “Crafts are a $32 billion industry,” Stewart said. “There’s no one standout brand in crafting, and we are aiming to be that brand with this amazing assortment of fantastic crafts. And I plan to be No.1.”
Stewart told ABC the company, which spans books, a TV show, radio programming, crafts, product lines, and even Emeril Lagasse, is in a growth period. Her company tanked after she went to prison, but she told McFadden she never thought it would crash. She said she’s an optimist. “I knew we had a really good thing going,” Stewart told McFadden. “And I really knew that I was not guilty of anything that could possibly harm my company.”
Stewart also said she was teed off over the prosecution because of what it did to her business empire.
“Well, I was p-d, okay,” she said. “P-d that something could actually affect that. The company had nothing to do with anything. But yet, because I am the face and the brand … it certainly had a harmful effect.” How big an effect – especially on her own fortune – is “inestimable, actually,” she said. “Personally, oh, I’m sure – probably more than a billion dollars – of course. And if you add in what the company is worth – absolutely. And I’m a major shareholder of the company.”
Marth is an O.G., so Rachael better watch her undermining ways.
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