"nightline" news and stories

Martha Stewart says her five-month prison sentence cost her $1 billion.

Speaking with "Nightline," Stewart says the "legal mess" was devastating to her personal worth.

"Oh, it's inestimable -- probably more than a billion dollars, of course, and if you add in what the company was worth, absolutely," Stewart says. "And I'm a major shareholder in the company. When you are prosecuted in such a way and a great portion of wealth is dissipated, all I could think so much is 'What I could have done with all of that for the good of mankind?'"

"Nightline" followed Stewart for a day in a news piece that aired Thursday. In it, Stewart dishes on Rachael Ray as well as her 2004 legal troubles.

"I knew we had a really good thing going, and I really knew that I was not guilty of anything that could possibly harm my company," Stewart tells Cynthia McFadden. "I was pissed, OK? Pissed that something could actually affect that. The company had nothing to do with anything, but yet because I am the face and the brand -- my person -- it certainly had a harmful effect."

She says she's put that period of her life behind her.

"How can I kick myself?" she says. "There are other people to be kicked. Enough. Let's get on with the future."

Martha Stewart draws a stark contrast between her kitchen skills and those of Rachael Ray and surprisingly, Ray completely agrees.

Speaking with ABC's "Nightline" in an interview to air Thursday night, Stewart says what Ray does isn't good enough for her.

"To me she professed that she cannot bake," Stewart says of Ray. "She just did a new cookbook which is just a re-edit of a lot of her old recipes, and that's not good enough for me. I really want to write a book that is a unique and lasting thing -- something that will fulfill a need in someone's library. So she's different, she's more of an entertainer than she is -- with a bubbly personality -- than she is a teacher like me. That's not what she's professing to be."

When asked about Stewart's comments, Ray says "It's true. It's 100 percent true," but adds the criticism doesn't upset her.

"Why would it make me mad?" Ray says. "When it comes to producing a beautiful, perfect, high quality meal, I'd rather eat Martha's than mine too."

Who do you like better? Martha or Rachael? Spill it in the comments.

["Nightline" via Eat Me Daily]

"Born Round," the new Frank Bruni memoir. Photo: Amazon.com.

Mark your calendars, fans of "Garlic and Sapphires" and other food critic memoirs. Frank Bruni, the outgoing critic at the New York Times and the man behind the upcoming memoir "Born Round," will be blabbing to the press -- ABC News' "Nightline," to be exact -- about his history with food, including a childhood eating disorder this coming Wednesday night at 11:35 EST.

Choice quotes from a press release reveal that Bruni was on the Atkins diet at age 8 -- "Mom bought it in hardcover ... I remember leafing through it and learning about ketones and ketosis and you know, having no idea what that meant, I was 8 years old, but I thought, 'Oooh that's profound stuff. If I can get into this ketosis thing I'll be home free. I'll be skinny.' " Even later, in college, "I threw up a lot of my meals. Whenever I would eat a meal that would get out of hand, I would throw it up." Now Bruni has an incredible workout routine and -- perhaps most astonishing to those of us who write about food for a living -- is the same weight as when he started his gig five years ago.

We know we'll be watching, and we'll post our deepest thoughts about the interview online the next day.

For healthy ways to stay slim, check out our sister site, thatsfit.com.