Martha Stewart stirred up her Instagram followers on Monday with a promise to release her "nudes", only to reveal hours later that the whole thing was a marketing stunt for lip products.
The 85-year-old lifestyle mogul posted a kiss-face selfie with a caption that read, "I've been thinking about releasing my nudes." Celebrity friends piled into the comments. Fans did a double-take. And then Stewart pulled the rug out from under all of them.
Hours after the original post, Stewart dropped a follow-up clarification on Instagram, as The Sun reported, explaining the whole thing was a product launch in disguise.
Stewart wrote:
"My 'nudes' are just a 'ploy' they are actually fabulous lip serums to wear day and night to keep your lips as lustrous and soft as your skin!!!!!"
So the "nudes" were lip serums. Not photographs. Lip serums. Say what you will about the woman, she knows how to get attention.
Before Stewart posted her clarification, the original teaser had already drawn high-profile reactions. Barbara Corcoran, the 77-year-old Shark Tank investor, jumped in with enthusiasm.
"If you do it, I'll do it!"
Corcoran wrote, apparently ready to follow Stewart's lead sight unseen.
Tyler Cameron, known from The Bachelorette and Dancing with the Stars, offered his own encouragement. "You'll set the world on fire Martha!" he commented. Jenna Lyons, the fashion executive and Real Housewives of New York star, kept it simple: "GOALS!"
Whether any of them were in on the joke beforehand, the information provided does not say. But the comments served their purpose, they amplified the post and kept it circulating long enough for Stewart to spring the punchline.
Stewart has never been shy about commanding attention on social media. She has built a brand on blending domesticity with a streak of irreverence that keeps people guessing. The "nudes" stunt fits neatly into that playbook.
The lip serum gambit follows a summer in which Stewart leaned into her public persona with characteristic confidence. In August, she celebrated her 85th birthday during a trip to Maine, posting a swimsuit photo from a hot tub on Instagram.
Stewart, who has been outspoken about other celebrities' lifestyle brand ambitions, captioned the birthday post with her usual directness.
"I am going to use this amazing hot tub every single day I am in Maine... Invigorating, restorative, therapeutic, relaxing."
That post drew its own wave of attention, and it set the stage for the kind of social media move Stewart pulled this week. At 85, she appears less interested in winding down than in keeping the public off balance.
Stewart's professional life has had its own recent turbulence. Her NBC show, Yes Chef!, was canceled after just one season despite what were described as strong ratings. The cancellation left fans puzzled, but Stewart has shown no signs of retreating from the spotlight.
Her willingness to court controversy, or at least the appearance of it, stands in contrast to other public figures who carefully manage every syllable. Stewart's approach is blunter. Post something provocative, wait for the reaction, then redirect the energy toward whatever she actually wants to sell.
The strategy has kept her relevant across decades, from her early days as a caterer to her time as a convicted felon to her current run as an octogenarian social media personality who can still make headlines with a single selfie.
What remains unclear is exactly which lip serum line Stewart was promoting. She did not name a specific brand or product in her clarification post, and whether the promotion was a paid sponsorship or an organic plug was not disclosed.
That gap matters. Social media promotions by celebrities carry disclosure obligations under Federal Trade Commission guidelines, and the line between personal enthusiasm and paid advertising has been a recurring issue on Instagram. Stewart's post did not appear to include any sponsorship tags, though the full details of the arrangement, if one exists, were not reported.
The episode also landed during a period when Stewart has stayed in the headlines for reasons beyond her own brand. She made waves earlier this year with comments at a dinner party involving Meghan Markle and a reported discussion about King Charles, a claim Markle later denied.
Stewart's orbit has occasionally overlapped with the broader celebrity world in ways that create their own friction. The Markle dynamic, in particular, has drawn attention, especially after David Foster pushed back on a viral red carpet moment involving the Duchess of Sussex at a recent gala.
None of that is directly connected to a lip serum promotion, of course. But it illustrates the media ecosystem Stewart operates in, one where a single Instagram caption can dominate a news cycle and where the line between personal expression and commercial strategy is perpetually blurred.
Stewart, for her part, has never pretended otherwise. She called the post a "ploy" herself, right there in the clarification. No euphemism. No apology. Just a straightforward admission that she baited the hook and reeled everyone in.
Meanwhile, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have been navigating their own public-image challenges across the Atlantic, a reminder that managing celebrity in the social media age is a full-contact sport for everyone involved.
At 85, Martha Stewart is still playing the game better than most people half her age. Whether you find the lip serum stunt charming or tiresome, she got exactly what she wanted: everyone talking about Martha Stewart.
