--- title: "Martha Stewart, 85, says there is no such thing as balance and starts her day at 4 a.m." description: "Stewart's account of her routine, her comeback after prison and her views on work gives readers who ask how she manages it all a direct answer." url: https://business-finance.skoop.news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in---10-24/ published: 2026-10-25T07:33:27.112095-04:00 modified: 2026-10-25T07:33:27.112095-04:00 section: "Business & Finance" publisher: "skoop.news" language: en keywords: ["martha stewart", "Vivian Tu", "Wall Street", "America", "Connecticut", "France", "Pilates", "sales", "financial"] hashtags: ["#MarthaStewart", "#VivianTu", "#WallStreet", "#Sales", "#business"] image: https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a4/Brussels_Stock_Exchange_%289%29.jpg/1280px-Brussels_Stock_Exchange_%289%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail --- # Martha Stewart, 85, says there is no such thing as balance and starts her day at 4 a.m. > Stewart's account of her routine, her comeback after prison and her views on work gives readers who ask how she manages it all a direct answer. Published 2026-10-25 · Business & Finance, [skoop.news](https://skoop.news/) ## In brief - Martha Stewart is 85 years old, and she says she wakes at 4 a.m. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) - During a recent podcast appearance, Stewart was asked how she manages her personal life alongside her empire. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) - Stewart criticized France's extended August holiday and called it a sign of a non-thriving country. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) ## An 85-year-old who rises at 4 a.m. Martha Stewart is 85 years old, and she says she wakes at 4 a.m. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) She does Pilates or personal training before she starts work at 7 a.m. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) Stewart said she arrives at the office by 7 a.m. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) She reportedly expects her team to start early too. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) ## Her answer on balance During a recent podcast appearance, Stewart was asked how she manages her personal life alongside her empire. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She said there is no such thing as balance. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She made the remarks to financial expert Vivian Tu during a live taping of a SoFi podcast. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) Stewart said marriage and divorce make balance unworkable. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She argued that major personal events simply do not work out alongside it. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) ## Her views on work and boredom Stewart criticized France's extended August holiday and called it a sign of a non-thriving country. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She asked whether America should go down the drain because people do not want to go back to work. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She also said she does not like to be bored. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) She says she does not call her career changes pivots but transformations, with curiosity motivating her to explore new opportunities. [[3]](https://fortune.com/2026/10/21/martha-stewart-slams-work-life-balance-as-a-myth-she-works-at-seven-avoids-boredom-multimillionaire/) ## The career behind the routine Stewart began her career working on Wall Street in the 1960s. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She then opened a catering company from her kitchen in Westport, Connecticut. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) She spent five months in federal prison over a case involving an investigation into stock sales, and was released in 2005. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) After her prison term, she served five more months in home confinement and two years of supervised probation. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) After returning from prison, Stewart launched a major career comeback. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) ## What it means for you If you want to know how Stewart runs her days, her own account is specific. She wakes at 4 a.m., exercises, and starts work at 7 a.m. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) If you manage a team, note that she reportedly expects her staff to start early. [[2]](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) If you are weighing a career change, she describes hers as transformations driven by curiosity. [[3]](https://fortune.com/2026/10/21/martha-stewart-slams-work-life-balance-as-a-myth-she-works-at-seven-avoids-boredom-multimillionaire/) Her view on balance is that it does not exist, and she names marriage and divorce as events that do not fit alongside it. [[1]](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) ## Sources 1. [Martha Stewart rips people with ‘thick skulls’ who believe in work-life balance: ‘No such thing’](https://pagesix.com/2026/10/23/celebrity-news/martha-stewart-rips-people-with-thick-skulls-who-believe-in-work-life-balance/) — pagesix.com 2. [With ₹3,796 cr net worth, this entrepreneur starts work at 7 am at 85, says there’s nothing like work-life balance'](https://www.livemint.com/news/trends/with-3-796-cr-net-worth-this-entrepreneur-starts-work-at-7-am-at-85-says-there-s-nothing-like-work-life-balance-11792766282148.html) — livemint.com 3. [Martha Stewart says people need to get it through their ‘thick skulls’ that there’s ‘no such thing as balance’—even at 85 she starts work at 7 a.m.](https://fortune.com/2026/10/21/martha-stewart-slams-work-life-balance-as-a-myth-she-works-at-seven-avoids-boredom-multimillionaire/) — fortune.com Image: Photo (illustrative): Bernard Lee / Wikimedia Commons, CC0 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Brussels_Stock_Exchange_(9).jpg) --- Written from the sources above and checked twice (rules and an independent model) before publishing. How we work: https://skoop.news/how-we-work/ · Corrections: https://skoop.news/corrections/