Martha Stewart had "lost interest" in her Sports Illustrated shoot before the magazine came out.
Martha Stewart was the oldest cover star for Sports Illustrated's swimsuit issue
The 81-year-old businesswoman became the oldest person in history to feature on the cover of the publication's iconic annual swimsuit issue last month but she had kept her photoshoot under wraps for so long, she'd moved on to other things by the time the photos were made public.
She told Page Six Style: “I thought it was a big deal, but we’d been quiet [about it] for so long, I’d sort of lost interest until it came out."
The cooking guru was "astonished" by the response to the photoshoot.
She said: “It’s been a phenomenal response.
“Really phenomenal, and how lucky! It was a lot of work, and it was fun, and I think Sports Illustrated and my team and I are quite astonished.”
Martha - who donned a low-cut one-piece for the cover shoot - previously admitted she was proud to make history with the photoshoot.
She told the magazine: “When I heard that I was going to be on the cover of Sports Illustrated Swimsuit, I thought, ‘Oh, that’s pretty good, I’m going to be the oldest person I think ever on a cover of Sports Illustrated.'
“And I don’t think about age very much, but I thought that this is kind of historic.
“Age is not the determining factor in terms of friendship or in terms of success, but what people do, how people think, how people act, that’s what’s important and not your age.”
Martha also explained that she cut carbs in order to prepare for the shoot and ended up getting "sort of addicted" to Pilates and is also a keen hiker as she strives for fitness.
She told 'Extra': "Did my Pilates this morning. I do it three days a week... I got sort of addicted to it. I Iike it a lot, but I also have to do my horseback riding and the other nice things… hiking."
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