Today’s young ‘are too lazy to succeed’
‘Millennials’ sponge off parents, says lifestyle guru
THEY might argue that they are facing tough times, with economic instability and soaring house prices.
But those in their 20s and 30s can expect little sympathy from Martha Stewart.
The American lifestyle guru, 74, who is worth around £166million, said young people today don’t have enough initiative.
She added that millennials – those born between 1982 and 2002 – need to stop living with their parents and ‘work for it’ if they want to be successful.
The businesswoman – who is part of the so- called Silent Generation, born in the 1920s to 1940s, who strove for financial security in the wake of two world wars and the Great Depression – compared millennials’ lack of drive to her attitude at 19, when she got mar- ried and fixed up her own home before her career took off.
Miss Stewart, who later spent time in jail for lying to investigators about a well-timed sale of shares said to have saved her tens of thousands of pounds, said in an interview: ‘I think every business is trying to target millennials. But who are millennials? Now we are finding out that they are living with their parents.
‘They don’t have the initia- tive to go out and find a little apartment and grow a tomato plant on the terrace.
‘I understand the plight of younger people ... The economic circumstances out there are very grim. But you have to work for it. You have to strive for it. You have to go after it.
‘I got married at 19 and I immediately got an apartment and I fixed it up. I was very proud of everything I did. I got the furniture at auctions for pennies. Beautiful furniture. My apartments were lovely and homey and comfortable.’
Miss Stewart began her career as a model and used the money she earned to fund a university education. She married her former husband Andrew Stewart in 1961 and six years later started working as a stockbroker.
She later started a catering business, which launched her career as a lifestyle guru, writing cookbooks and magazine articles and becoming a TV personality. She went on to forge a media company Martha Stewart Living, publishing a magazine and running a TV show. The business was valued at £1.5billion at the height of its success in 1999.
Miss Stewart also said in the interview with New York-based Luxury Listings magazine that she is not thinking of putting her feet up any time soon. She is currently creative director of 15 brands including several US clothing lines.
She said: ‘It is not the time to slow down. I’m not the retiring type of person. I enjoy all the things I do. The only challenge I have is finding time to do as much as I want to do.’
In March 2004, Miss Stewart was found guilty of obstruction of justice after making false statements to investigators about why she sold all her shares in biopharmaceutical firm Im-Clone Systems.
She was sentenced to serve a five months in prison, five months of house arrest and two years under probation.