BOSTON -- Domestic diva Martha Stewart announced Wednesday that she will serve her jail sentence before her appeal is even heard.
NewsCenter 5's Janet Wu explains reported that Stewart made her announcement at her New York offices. Going to prison before her appeal process concludes it was both a personal and business decision.
"I must reclaim my good life. I must return to my good works and allow those around me to do the same," Stewart said.
Stewart gave up her chairmanship and CEO position two years ago when she was first indicted. She resigned from the board last March when she was found guilty of lying about a stock sale. But she remained the leading creative force behind the company, which has been struggling with its cash flow and on Wall Street.
"It's probably well-calculated," said Babson College spokesman Peter Cohan. "Part of what was doing fairly well during the time the trial was under way was the business of selling to consumers, to individuals who have tremendous amount of loyalty to her. But the part of the business that was not doing well was the part that involves getting corporate advertisers to buy space on her various publications."
"I hope to that I will begin serving my sentence in the very near future because I would like to be back as early in March as possible in order to plant the new spring garden and to truly get things growing again," Stewart said.
The imagery, the brand and the woman cannot be separated, according to business analysts. Acutely aware of that, Stewart said she hopes to be incarcerated at a federal minimum-security prison in Danbury, Conn., near her home and her 90-year-old mother.
"I am very sad knowing that I will miss the holiday season -- Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years -- always an opportunity to celebrate family, friends and religious traditions that mean so much to many of us," Stewart said.
Cohan said that if Stewart hasn't learned the lesson yet, he hopes his students have.
"Nobody, even if they are very successful, should let themselves be lulled into a sense of complacency, because that is when you get into trouble. You always have to be a little paranoid," Cohan said.
Cohan believes most of her corporate supporters won't decide immediately on whether to do business with her company again. It may take several months after she completes her five months in prison, which will be followed by five more months under house arrest.
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Janet Wu Reports On Stewart
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