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BLAST FROM THE PAST

Martha Stewart, 85, Recreates Iconic Photo 31 Years Later

The mogul celebrated her milestone birthday with a trip down memory lane.

Tamilore OshikanluContributor

PublishedAug 5, 2026, 1:58 PM EDT

UpdatedAug 5, 2026, 1:58 PM EDT

Updated Aug 5, 2026, 1:58 PM EDTPublished Aug 5, 2026, 1:58 PM EDT

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Martha Stewart marked her 85th birthday by proving that 31 years have done little to slow her down.

The lifestyle mogul recreated her 1995 People cover at her 156-acre farm in Bedford, New York, while revealing the surprisingly low-key way she plans to celebrate the milestone.

“I don’t think about age,” Stewart told the magazine. “Eighty-five is just a number; that’s all I consider it. I don’t want to have a party. It’s not a big deal.”

People’s original cover story began on Stewart’s birthday, Aug. 3, 1995, outside her $1.7 million East Hampton home.

By the time the reporter arrived, the early riser had already walked her two dogs, exercised, and baked blueberry muffins.

For the recreation, photographed July 23, Stewart skipped the muffins but still started her day at 3 a.m. She completed her daily puzzles before promoting her new home intelligence app, Hint, on Today and heading to the shoot at the farm she purchased for $15.6 million in 2000.

The homemaking icon also shared the regimen she credits for keeping her youthful appearance, including daily exercise, healthy food, horseback riding, and “good genes.”

“My mom looked great at 95,” Stewart said. “We eat well. We don’t drink very much. We don’t smoke.”

Stewart was equally candid about the cosmetic help she receives.

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She said she visits New York City dermatologist Dr. Dan Belkin about once every four months for filler touch-ups, but again denied undergoing plastic surgery.

“I have not had any plastic surgery at all. I don’t think I need it,” she said.

Stewart also relies on facial exercises, facials from Mario Badescu and Georgia Louise, and peptides.

“I’m more a maintenance kind of person,” she explained. “I’m not getting boobs done and hips and butts and stuff like that.”

The entrepreneur previously revealed on The Martha Stewart Podcast in 2024 that Belkin has used muscle-relaxing injections around her neck and jawline, filler in her cheeks, and ultrasound-based skin-tightening treatments.

She has also admitted that Botox in the upper portion of her face did not always produce her desired result.

“My eyebrows kind of go up in a V, and that looks so unnatural,” she said.

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In January, Stewart insisted the only time a plastic surgeon worked on her face was after one of her French bulldogs accidentally split her lip nearly to her nose. The injury required around 16 stitches, but Stewart called the procedure a “repair,” not cosmetic surgery.

The cookbook author has made beauty part of her expanding empire. Her skincare company, Elm Biosciences, launched in September 2025 and now sells a $165 night cream that Stewart has credited for her glowing complexion.

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Her résumé also includes over 100 cookbooks, restaurants in Las Vegas and Connecticut, and her history-making 2023 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover at 81.

Even at 85, Stewart is still finding new territory to conquer—and she has no plans to make romance a priority.

After divorcing Andy Stewart in 1990, she said companionship has become less important with age. Asked about dating younger men, Stewart replied, “Been there, done that.”

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Instead, she says her focus is on learning about artificial intelligence and “agentics,” and she remains too busy to enjoy much downtime.

“I still am a perfectionist,” Stewart said. “I’d like to have a little bit more free time. I don’t have any free time at all—but I’m working on that.”

And although she claimed not to care about being rich or famous, there is still one luxury missing from her meticulously curated life.

“I would like a yacht—a big yacht,” Stewart said. “I don’t have that yet.”

Tamilore OshikanluContributor

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