What to Know
Martha Stewart is grandma to two grandchildren, but they don’t call her that. During a recent appearance on 50+ & Unfiltered with Shawn Killinger, Martha, 84, told Shawn that her grandkids actually call her “Martha.” People had mixed feelings about this revelation. To some fans, the unconventional choice seemed very “on brand” for Martha. But others just found it strange and inappropriate.
When speaking to Shawn, Martha explained that she never told her grandchildren to call her by her first name. It sounds like it just sort of happened.
Martha said her grandkids have always called her “Martha.”
Martha is mom to one daughter, Alexis Stewart. Alexis welcomed her first child in 2011, making Martha a grandmother. Martha’s grandchildren, Jude and Truman, are teenagers now, but calling their grandma “Martha” is not some kind of teenage phase. It’s something they’ve been doing since they could talk.
“They’ve called me Martha since they were born,” Martha told Shawn. Shawn found this “hysterical.” Martha also added that “all their friends call [her] Martha” as well. “None of them call me Mrs. Stewart,” she added. “I’m not a Mrs. Stewart.”
But Shawn questioned Martha.
Seemingly perplexed by Martha’s unusual grandma moniker, Shawn questioned how this all started. “Even as babies, you were like ‘call me Martha?'” she asked. Martha clarified that she wasn’t the one who told her grandbabies to call her by her first name.
“No, no. I didn’t say that,” she explained. “They called me Martha because my daughter calls me Martha. She’s always called me Martha.”
Some people in the comments really seemed to have an issue with this.
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Though this tradition seems quite normal for Martha’s family, some fans couldn’t accept it. Reacting to a TikTok clip from the interview, some critics called it “sad” or “weird.” Others made assumptions about why Martha’s loved ones call her by her first name. “She probably doesn’t like be referred to grandma or mom,” one person suspected. Another person urged her to embrace being a grandma by using the title. “be grandma, own it!!” they wrote.
However, others argued that sticking to “Martha” makes a lot of sense for the “iconic” businesswoman and TV personality. “This just works I don’t know how to explain it,” one person commented on the clip. After all, what else would you call Martha Stewart? “Of course she is Martha!!” another fan wrote, while someone else said, “that’s Martha… what else would you call her other than queen?”
And even though Martha doesn’t go by “grandma,” she made it very clear that she loves being a grandmother.
