Martha Stewart stars in sexy Aussie ad with mystery man as she embraces sex symbol status at 83
The lifestyle mogul and businesswoman, who in the last 40 years has built a global empire and changed the face of homemaking, is still very much in her prime.
Widely regarded as the original influencer, Stewart is much revered for her TV shows, lifestyle books, magazines and product lines that helped make her the first self-made female billionaire in US history.
However, the 83-year-old has undergone an evolution of sorts in recent years – and she has welcomed this new direction in her career.
'I don't call it a reinvention, I call it an evolution,' she tells news.com.au via Zoom. 'If you're evolving, you're changing. Reinvention means eliminating the past and making something new. But this is very different. This is evolving.'
'I'm the same person. I do pretty much the same things,' she adds. 'I just take everything to a new and different level. I think that that's really evolution, and I like it. I do not like to remain static. I never will. And change is good. It's good for everybody.'
Stewart is even embracing her new sex symbol status, which she acquired thanks to that poolside selfie that almost broke the internet in 2020.
She mastered the art of 'thirst traps' in the years that followed and, in 2023, she officially solidified her bombshell status by becoming the oldest model to grace the cover of theSports IllustratedSwimsuit Issue.
'I love being admired by men. Why not?' she says when asked about being a sex symbol.
Stewart explains that while it's 'great' getting attention from the opposite sex, she makes sure her sexy photos are 'authentic' and aren't damaging to her brand.
'To me, it's all a lighthearted effort at making sure that first of all, your brand is safe, your brand is well admired, people will continue to buy your products and do it without any danger to anybody,' she says. 'That's really an important thing to me.'
In line with her evolution, Stewart is not afraid to step out of the box.
In an unexpected move, the lifestyle guru is now the ambassador for Rexona's new Whole Body Deodorant, appearing in a sexy Aussie TV commercial which she secretly filmed at the landmark Crypto Castle in Sydney back in May.
A clip of the ad was shared online earlier this week, which featured Stewart in a silk robe with a barely-clad mystery man. But today it was revealed that her Sydney 'tryst' was in fact an ad for Rexona's new Whole Body Deodorant.
'I loved making the Rexona commercial at the Crypto Castle. We worked with a great crew who were very funny and had a sense of humour,' she recalls.
'The whole commercial has a really lighthearted sense of humour about it because we're talking about body odour, which is not the sexiest subject matter.'
In the ad, Stewart uses her signature dry wit to demonstrate how to apply the deodorant to your thighs, breasts and feet, among other places.
'I know what you're wondering, Australia. And the answer is yes, you can use it 'down under,'' she muses in the Unilever ad.
'The whole idea of something like this, you have to do this with kind of a cheekiness and a forthrightness because we're talking about an all over the body deodorant,' she explains to us.
And the mogul is speaking from experience. In 1956, aged just 15, Stewart worked as a model and filmed her very first TV commercial for Lifebuoy, which coincidentally was an all-over-the-body deodorant soap also made by Unilever.
'I laughed when was offered this spot for Rexona because it's a similar kind of product, although that was a soap and this is a spray or a cream,' she reflects.
'So I just thought, how funny – full circle. And I thought, 'Oh, that'll be fun.''
Stewart was last in Australia in May for the Vivid festival, when she filmed the Rexona commercial. But she has plans to return to our shores in the near future.
'I've been to Australia quite a few times – I've been to Tasmania, Sydney, Melbourne, to other places in and around that, mostly the East Coast,' she says. 'I do want to go to the West Coast, and I haven't had a chance to do that yet. But what I've discovered is the food and the vegetation and the fabulous produce that you produce in Australia, second to no place in the world.'
Among the many hats Stewart wears – model, mogul, influencer – there's one that she's taken a liking to: 'Tradwife', aka a woman who embraces traditional values and gender roles.
'I've pioneered in a lot of different industries and a lot of different product developments, and I am always willing to step out and do things,' she says. 'I'm now also being known as the original Tradwife.'
'I'm very proud of myself for being a Tradwife, because why not? I mean, I raised my own sheep and my own chickens, made my own hams from my backyard pig, and grew my own vegetables – that's all Tradwife stuff.
'When they affix a name like 'Tradwife', it sounds kind of awful. But it's actually kind of cute. And the Tradwives that are very popular now are the hottest things on earth.'
And Stewart has this word of advice for all the Meghan Markles and Gwyneth Paltrows out there trying to emulate her success in the lifestyle space.
'If they can teach as much as I have taught and be as authentic as I have been, then they will be successful,' she says.
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