Martha starts doing her time

Domestic diva Martha Stewart has reported to prison to begin serving a five month sentence for lying about a shares sale.

“By the time you read this, I will have reported to a minimum-security prison in Alderson, West Virginia, to begin serving my five-month sentence,” said her website.

The Bureau of Prisons said she arrived this morning.

Stewart built a vast media empire that included her popular cooking and home improvement television shows, magazine and lines of household products bearing her name.

She was sentenced to Alderson after she and a former stockbroker were convicted of lying to federal investigators about why Stewart sold 3,928 shares.

Both were allowed to remain free pending appeal. But Stewart elected to begin serving her time anyway.

“As I announced in September, although my lawyers remain very confident in the strength of my appeal and will continue to pursue it on my behalf, I have decided to serve my sentence now because I want to put this nightmare behind me as quickly as possible for the good of my family and my company,” said the Stewart’s website statement.

“While I am away, my updates here will be less frequent, if not altogether impossible. But please know this change is only an unfortunate reflection of my current circumstances, and in no way diminishes my commitment to my life’s work or to the friends, colleagues, customers and supporters who make it possible,” it said.

“With your good wishes in my heart, I am looking forward to being back at work in March, and to many brighter days ahead.”

The famous and the felonious are nothing new to the town of Alderson, where the prison that opened in 1927 has seen the likes of Billie Holiday, Tokyo Rose, Axis Sally and would-be presidential assassins Squeaky Fromme and Sara Jane Moore.

Yet none has attracted as much attention as Stewart.

Stewart is to remain in south-eastern West Virginia until March. A Bureau of Prisons spokeswoman has said inmates who are sentenced to a year or less are not eligible for early release because of good behaviour.