Like their billionaire sister, Martha Stewart’s five siblings — George Christiansen, Kathryn Evans, Laura Plimpton, Eric Scott and Frank Koystra — were taught by their parents to be self-sufficient.
The six siblings were raised in Nutley, N.J. by Martha and Edward Kostrya, Polish immigrants who ran a local tavern. Edward’s parenting was particularly industrious, requiring his children to paint their own rooms, make their own clothes and earn extra cash by trapping and skinning muskrats to sell their pelts.
“Father instilled in all of us a sense that we could go farther than the ordinary person,” her sister Kathryn told PEOPLE in 1995. Martha, the second-oldest of the Kostrya children, embodied that lesson and launched a brand so successful that it would eventually become synonymous with homemaking. The rise and fall of her career as America’s first influencer is even the basis of Netflix’s new documentary Martha, which began streaming on Oct. 30.
But her brother, Eric, told PEOPLE that their father’s expectation for his kids to go beyond the ordinary wasn’t always a good thing and that being “demanding” and “supercritical” is a family curse.
“He would give us an order, and if we didn’t follow through, we paid the penalty,” Eric said of their father in Martha. Despite this, Martha looks back on her childhood fondly and sees her upbringing as the source of her legendary work ethic.
“I was one of six kids and two working parents,” she said during a 2020 appearance on Shop The Stars With Jill Martin. “And they weren’t making a lot of money … We were taught to work, we were encouraged to pay our own way, and we all did.”
So, who are Martha Stewart’s siblings? Here’s everything to know about her brothers George, Eric and Frank and sisters Kathryn and Laura.
Laura and George worked for Martha
Throughout her decades-long career, Martha has employed a few of her siblings. George and his wife, Rita Christiansen, headed the brand’s office in Westport, Conn., for a time, and Laura worked for her older sister for over 25 years.
Martha’s youngest sibling, Laura, was a writer, editor and researcher for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia’s blog and The Daily Wag.
George had an “affinity” for pie-making
Martha isn’t the only one in her family who could bake a mean dessert. Per Today, George made a guest appearance on one of his sister’s shows to help her make a blueberry pie. In true Koystra fashion, the pie was made with blueberries grown from his personal garden.
George, a father of two who worked as a contractor and helped remodel one of Martha’s former homes, died unexpectedly on March 13, 2017. He was 65.
On the anniversary of his death in 2023, Martha shared a photo of her “baby brother” at his daughter’s wedding. In the caption, she wrote: “We miss him.”
Eric carves wooden ducks
In 2023, Martha showed off her older brother’s DIY skills and shared two photos of wooden decoy Ruddy ducks Eric had carved for her.
“Eric is a retired dentist and in his free time he sculpts, he carves, he fabricates Tiffany lampshades, builds American eighteenth century furniture, and myriad other things,” she wrote in the caption. “He can also can fix just about anything!!! These beautiful carved wooden decoys illustrate his eye for accuracy and skill as a carver.”
Martha hinted at her brother’s handiness in a 2023 interview for Life Stories. She said that while she was more of the “homebody type” who would babysit and do whatever her parents asked of her, Eric was more independent. He was an outdoorsman and the first of his siblings to go off to college.
Laura’s older siblings named her
Born on March 4, 1955, Laura was the baby of the family — and her mother (Big Martha, as she was often called) wanted to name her Dorothy. But Martha wrote on her blog in 2014 that for whatever reason, the siblings didn’t like that name and persuaded their mother to name her Laura instead.
“We still don’t know why we didn’t like the name Dorothy,” Martha wrote. “But Laura was beloved by all as Laura.”
During her Life Stories interview, the famed entrepreneur said that Laura married an actor named Kim and had two children. He died when the kids “were very young,” and Martha introduced her to her second husband, Randy Plimpton. They also had a child together.
Laura died of a brain aneurysm in 2014
On Aug. 6, 2014, Martha announced on her blog that Laura had died of a massive brain aneurysm. Early that week, she had “suddenly felt ill” after taking a shower at her home in Connecticut. She was rushed to the hospital and kept on life support for two days so her children could say their goodbyes. Laura was 59.
“Laura was celebrated for her curious and loving spirit, as well as her warmth, sensitivity and sense of humor,” her obituary in The Suffolk Times read. “She was a superb chef, master seamstress and wonderful mother. She made many of her children’s clothes and always sent them to school with a homemade lunch.”
Frank and Martha were estranged for five years
Martha didn’t always get along with her siblings. Her younger brother, Frank, told WAFF48 in 2004 that they hadn’t spoken in five years. The siblings reunited when she was accused of illegal insider trading in 2004.
“I could see the horrible agony and heartache in her eyes and in her face – I had to stop myself from tearing up,” Frank told the New York Post in 2004. “I wanted to hug her right there in the courthouse — and just tell her how much I love her — but it wasn’t appropriate.”
Martha was later found guilty on charges of conspiracy and obstruction of juice and sentenced to five months in prison.
Martha said she was her father’s “favorite child”
Though Edward passed down his homesteading skills to all of his children, Martha said he made extra time for her. She told Life Stories that he taught her “everything” about perfectionism and how to do “the very best job you could possibly do.”
“When I needed him to take me somewhere, Dad was available,” she said. “I was his favorite child. It’s odd to say, but I was definitely his favorite child.”
Edward died before Martha turned 30. “It was a big loss for me because he had not yet seen what I went on to do,” she said. “I felt kind of bad that he didn’t realize some of my dream, and I know he would’ve enjoyed it so very much.”
Martha reiterated this claim in Martha, saying, “I was the ideal daughter I wanted to learn. … He thought I was more like him than the other children.”
Martha’s siblings opened up about their childhood in Martha
Eric, Frank and Kathryn were interviewed for Netflix’s Martha, though they did not appear on camera. Eric and Frank spoke about their father’s tough parenting, especially when it came to gardening. Eric said that the family had gardens because Edward couldn’t support six kids on his salary as a salesman. The siblings would trade the food for goods, and if the crop wasn’t up to their father’s standards, they were punished.
“We had our whippings,” Frank claimed in the doc. “We dreaded the yardstick and at times it was the end of the belt.”
Eric said that to this day, he still despises gardening.
Later, Kathryn talked about her sister’s early days as a model. “Everybody stopped everything to watch Martha,” she recalled.
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