Home Is Where Stewart Is
Updated from 8:10 a.m. EST
There's no place like home -- especially for Martha Stewart.
The style diva traded in her bare prison dormitory for her plush suburban mansion Friday, as the founder of
Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
(MSO)
finished her five-month sentence for obstruction of justice.
Stewart left a federal correctional facility in Alderson, W. Va., shortly after midnight, having been granted a slightly early release, and headed to a local airport where she took a private jet home to Bedford, N.Y. She will now serve another five months in home detention.
Stewart's release comes amid high expectations for a personal rebound and a new spurt of growth for her company.
Shares have more than tripled since the day she was sentenced but were trading down $2.75, or 8.1%, at $31.19 Friday. Stewart's own stock is also on the rise with commitments for two new television shows.
In a statement on her personal Web site -- which Stewart set up after her legal troubles became a reality -- the diva said: "The experience of the last five months in Alderson, W. Va., has been life altering and life affirming. Someday, I hope to have the chance to talk more about all that has happened, the extraordinary people I have met here and all that I have learned."
The statement also thanked friends and family but lacked any of the steely -- almost defiant -- confidence Stewart exhibited at a news conference after her sentencing. At the time, Stewart said she'd "be back" after a near-death experience.
Stewart is still appealing her conviction for lying to prosecutors about the circumstances surrounding her decision to sell shares of the biotech company
ImClone Systems
(IMCL)
ahead of a negative regulatory ruling on its cancer drug. Stewart's broker, Peter Bacanovic, was also convicted in the case. In addition, the company's founder, Sam Waksal, is serving a prison term of more than seven years for insider trading.
In something of an ironic dramatic twist, the drug -- Erbitux -- was later approved by the Food and Drug Administration, triggering a rally in ImClone shares that took them above the level at which Stewart allegedly dumped her lot.