Homemaking queen Stewart begins luxury house arrest

MARTHA STEWART strolled outdoors with her dog and fed her horses yesterday morning, hours after returning from prison to the multi-million dollar estate where she will be under the watch of federal authorities while trying to revive her homemaking empire.

On a cold late-winter morning, she emerged from her home with a companion and a dog.

She handed treats over the fence to five horses and caressed their muzzles, then turned to wave to journalists before heading inside again.

Stewart was driven to the 153-acre estate 40 miles north of midtown Manhattan after landing at about 2am at Westchester County Airport in a private jet.

For the next five months, Stewart must wear an electronic anklet so authorities can track her every move. But she is allowed to receive her $900,000 salary again and can leave home for up to 48 hours a week to work, shop or run errands.

“The experience of the last five months ... has been life altering and life affirming,” Stewart said in a statement issued on her website. “Someday, I hope to have the chance to talk more about all that has happened, the extraordinary people I have met here and all that I have learned.”

Stewart, 63, who also has homes in Connecticut, Maine and the Hamptons, chose the Katonah estate, which she bought in 2000 for $16m, to be her prison until August.

Besides running Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc and writing a column for her magazine, Stewart is set to star in two television shows.

Stewart hopes to turn around the fortunes of a company that produces everything from television shows to bakeware. In 2004, the company suffered a loss and its revenues sagged, but the stock price rose considerably during her prison stint as investors bet on a Stewart comeback.

Martha Stewart Living shares rose 25 cents to $34.20 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange. They are approaching their recent 52-week high of $37.45 and are well above the low of $8.25.

Her contract with her company says her salary, which was suspended while she was behind bars, will get reinstated during home detention.

While in home confinement, Stewart will be free to entertain colleagues, neighbours, friends and relatives.

During her time at the federal women’s camp in Alderson, Stewart foraged for dandelions and other wild greens, concocted recipes in a microwave and even ate from a vending machine. She also participated in nightly yoga classes, spent time on crafts and writing and lost weight.

Stewart’s release came one day shy of the one-year anniversary of her conviction in New York on charges stemming from her 2001 sale of nearly 4,000 shares of the biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc. She was convicted of obstructing justice and lying to the government.