Martha Stewart's Ex-Husband Andy Reflects on Their "Abusive" Marriage

"It appears that Martha continues to publicly relitigate the marriage."

Martha Stewart has been in promo mode for her self-titled documentary, Martha, which includes several anecdotes about her marriage to ex-husband Andy. In snippets from the retrospective of her life, the lifestyle icon claimed that Andy was unfaithful to her on multiple occasions and discarded her through divorce—but now Andy is standing up for himself amid the claims.

In a joint statement signed by Andy and his wife, Shyla Nelson Stewart, Martha's claims of infidelity were addressed via Facebook, with the pair adding in the joint statement that Martha was an abusive partner when she was married to Andy.

"Andy had some dark [moments], including a painful and abusive marriage to Martha (as in, Martha Stewart), which ended almost 40 years ago," the couple wrote. "While Andy quietly moved on and forward with his life, it appears that Martha continues to publicly relitigate the marriage, including comments in a sensationalized trailer for an upcoming documentary on Netflix. The juxtaposition of Andy’s early life with the joy-filled, purpose-led, loving marriage we live today is striking. Every day, we openly express our gratitude for our love and for our life together."

Despite Andy's public flagellation in the documentary, the Stewarts still wish Martha well. "We both wish everyone, including Martha herself, the experience of loving and being loved deeply and fully, and the peace that comes from such a love," the couple added.

The documentary saw Martha explaining at least two instances of her own infidelity, which included her kissing another man while she was on her honeymoon with Andy in Italy, and a brief affair that she had with an Irish man while she was a stockbroker. As for Andy—who explained in the doc that he didn't step out of the marriage until his then-wife did—Martha explained that “he was not satisfied at home. I don’t know how many different girlfriends he had during this time, but I think there were quite a few.”

“He’s the one who wanted the divorce, not I," Martha continued. "He was throwing me away. I was 40 years old. I was gorgeous. You know, I was a desirous woman. But he was treating me like a castaway. He treated me really badly. And in return, I guess I treated him badly.”