Former Employee Accused Martha Stewart of Stealing the Recipe that Launched Her Career

“The Many Lives of Martha Stewart” tells of Martha’s rise to fame, time in prison, and her magnificent comeback. But one of the juiciest details included is that Martha apparently stole a recipe that essentially launched her career. 

And now, more than 40 years later, one of her former employees is claiming that the recipe was her creation, not Martha’s, and that she never got any credit for it. 

Gross claims that she showed Martha her own recipe for a cranberry nut tart when she first applied to work for the then-caterer. And for years, the two made the delicious treat for a variety of events. 

And while Sarah Gross claims that the recipe was undoubtedly her own creation, she also gave Martha the benefit of the doubt, saying, “[It] became so much part of the repertoire that who knows if she even remembers that it was my recipe.”

Martha said, “Sarah Gross, who worked for me in my catering business. She had this delicious cookie recipe, and I asked her for the recipe, and she wouldn’t give it to me.” And continued, “So I said to Alexis, I gave her the cookie, and I said, ‘Here, make this recipe.’ And in two tries, she had the recipe.” Finally, Martha said, “You know, it could have been Sarah’s famous chocolate. Sorry, Sarah, but it’s Alexis’.”

Gross reported, “I was working for Martha, getting paid eight to 10 dollars an hour max. I don’t think I ever got paid more than that, and I was doing so much for her.”

To which Andy Stewart, Martha’s husband, apparently replied, “Martha is gonna be as big as McDonald’s, and we’re not giving that away.”

And it turned out that both Andy Stewart and Sarah Gross were right: Martha Stewart made it all the way to the top. 

Stewart has released more than 48 books, many on the best-seller list, several TV shows, and a wildly popular website and newsletter with 12 million subscribers. 

The caption below the recipe explained, “Martha made this recipe on episode 701 of Martha Bakes,” which aired in July 2016. And since the recipe was clearly within the chef’s 1982 book “Entertaining,” it’s clear that Martha seems to have forgotten where the recipe originally came from. 

Michael Skott, a former employee, said in an interview, “[Martha] worked hard for it, and she was driven, but everything was a team effort, and there were a lot of people that worked with Martha when I was involved with her, that also came up with ideas.”

Stories and comments from Martha’s former employees, like Sarah Gross and Michael Skott, have certainly shown a different side of the superstar. Throughout her entire climb to success, it really was Martha’s world, and everyone else was just living in it.