'I was stupid': lifestyle queen, 85, owns up to her Halloween costume

Martha Stewart has taken the blame for her Halloween costume, and taken it off Craig Melvin.

The lifestyle queen, 85, sat down with the Today co-host, 47, on Friday, Nov. 6, and apologized for dressing as a homeless person for Halloween.

"I made a mistake," she said. "I was stupid, what else can I say? I am so sorry."

She said she hoped "my followers and my fans and the rest of America forgives me," Today reports. "I was not making fun of anybody," she added.

The photo she deleted

Stewart had posted a photo on Instagram of herself in tattered clothes, with dirt smeared on her face, holding a sign that read "I AM HUNGRY HELP ME!" She deleted it quickly, but screenshots spread, and users called it "offensive," "gross" and "out of touch," Page Six reports.

The post doubled as an ad for her QVC candle collection. Its caption read: "My QVC candles are perfect for Halloween!!!" according to Today.

In a statement on Nov. 1, Stewart said she was "distressed" that the costume "has offended people," and that it "was intended to bring more awareness to the very serious subject of homelessness." Homelessness, she said, "continues to remain one of America's greatest challenges and ongoing crises."

It didn't stop the backlash. Her Instagram kept filling with criticism, and Jimmy Kimmel took a shot at the costume on his late-night show, Page Six notes.

So she tried again. In a second statement on Instagram, since deleted, she wrote that the first one "didn't go far enough" and that the costume "was insensitive and not funny," Today reports. "I am very sorry," she wrote.

Blame the chocolate

Here's where Melvin came in. On the Oct. 30 episode of Today, while Melvin was dressed as Snoop Dogg, he accidentally spilled chocolate on Stewart's white sweater as the pair decorated a Halloween cheesecake. Stewart later suggested the spill was why she skipped her planned costume, E! reports.

On Friday she took that back, and told him she didn't blame him "at all."

Melvin made sure the record was straight. "But I did apologize for spilling the chocolate," he said. "To be clear, there was no connection between that and the costume later."

"We moved on," he said. "And it wasn't your fault," Stewart replied.

What she learned

Stewart said Halloween fell on a Saturday and she'd been busy gardening and planting trees at her farm, with a party to go to and no costume planned, even though she usually wears "elaborate costumes."

It was her 14-year-old grandson, Truman, who called it first. When she sent him a photo of the costume, he told her it was "tone deaf," she said.

Asked what she'd taken from it, she said: "Pay closer attention to social issues."

She'll be back on Today next week for the show's annual All-Star Thanksgiving segment.