Martha Stewart

New York, July 18: It was the most lenient punishment Martha Stewart could have received but last night America’s disgraced domestic goddess claimed she was “terribly disappointed” by her five-month jail sentence.

Stewart was also ordered to serve five months under house arrest after being found guilty of lying to federal investigators probing alleged insider dealing.

In court on Friday, Stewart had spoken in a shaky voice of her shame, and asked the judge to “remember all the good I have done”. She flattered Judge Miriam Cedarbaum, entrusting her future to her “competent and experienced and merciful hands”.

Only a few hours later Stewart changed her tune. While lawyers said that she had been lucky, Stewart complained: “I had hoped for, at the most, some confinement, community service. Instead, I have five months of incarceration and five months of house arrest that is monitored.”

During the trial, Stewart was accused of appearing arrogant and was criticised for carrying a Hermes Birkin handbag worth $6,000, or £3,960, into court.

In her first television interview since her sentence was stayed, pending appeal, she said she had been singled out because she was a successful businesswoman. “Do you know, that is my only handbag? And I bought it, I think, 12 or 14 years ago. I bought that for myself when I felt successful enough to buy a beautiful handbag. And it did not cost $6,000 12 or 14 years ago.”

Asked how she would handle prison food, fellow inmates and strip searches, Stewart said that she would take her cue from Nelson Mandela’s prison experiences. The former South African President and anti-apartheid campaigner spent 27 years in jail.

“I could do it. I’m a really good camper. I can sleep on the ground,” she said in the interview with Barbara Walters of ABC.

“There’s many other good people that have gone to prison. Look at Nelson Mandela.”

The trial, she said, was about making an example of someone “who’s built this fantastic business...to bring them down a notch; to scare other people”.

Stewart’s complaints about her sentence will come as a surprise to her “sentencing guru” Herb Hoelter, who had advised her on everything from the plain black trouser suit she wore to court to her uncharacteristically humble manner when meeting probation officers.

“With Martha Stewart as with everyone else, we show her how to get through the probation process, being careful not to step on toes — how to dress, how to speak to the judge when the time comes.” Stewart must have remembered his advice just in time. During the interview, she also admitted Judge Cedarbaum was “fair”. “It could have been worse. Five months versus 10 months or 16 months. That’s a good thing,” she conceded.