Charles Simonyi
Stewart dated billionaire Microsoft Office creator Simonyi for fifteen years before their split in 2008. This was Stewart’s longest relationship outside of her marriage to her first husband Andy, who she married when she was 19. Simonyi was the man Stewart was dating before her brief prison stint, and the two continued dating after.
“We started to go everywhere together. It was a different kind of life,” Stewart said in Martha of the start of her relationship with Simonyi. “He had his own jet, he was building a boat in Germany and I started working on the boat with him.”
Simonyi stood by Stewart during her trial for insider trading, telling the Seattle Times that it was a “sad day” when she was convicted. “I do feel she’s obviously being made an example and I don’t think that’s made very clear by, for example, the U.S. attorney,” he told the newspaper.
I the documentary, Stewart seems to reflect back on her time with Simonyi as less ideal than it looked, revealing that when she was in jail, “He was out on his boat floating around the world and that was distressing to me.” She also explained that he only visited her once in jail.
But the two continued dating after she was released, with Stewart confirming on Don Imus’ radio show in October of 2005 that she was dating “a really nice guy who stuck by me.”
However, by 2008 the two split, with Stewart explaining in Martha that her that her post-prison life was “less exciting” and that led to the relationship falling apart. Six months after their relationship ended, Simonyi became engaged to Lisa Persdotter, the daughter of a Swedish millionaire.
“He said, ‘You know, Martha, I’m going to get married … to Lisa,’ I said, ‘Lisa who?’ He hadn’t told me a word,” Stewart explained in Martha. “I thought that was the most horrible thing a person could do. How can a man who spent 15 years with me do that? What a stupid thing to do to someone that you actually care about.”
