Martha Stewart is a household name in the United States, thanks to her growing stable of books, magazines and multimedia offerings - all of which tell the American public how to eat, dress, marry, garden and entertain in greater style.

For US consumers, she is the high priestess of lifestyle advice.

For investors, she was a successful chief executive, sitting on the board of the New York Stock Exchange, no less. Her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, is a business powerhouse, with revenues of $296m last year.

Martha's millions Revenues, $m

1997: 133 1998: 180 1999: 232 2000: 286 2001: 296

And while her refined offerings may not sit well with the Texas life style popularised by President George W Bush, she is as American as apple pie.

Her face beams from dozens of magazine covers - not least those produced by her own company.

However, these days Martha Stewart may be yearning for a bit more anonymity, because her image has lost its lustre, sullied by allegations of insider trading.

Allegedly she illegally used advance knowledge of bad news for biotech firm Imclone, by selling her shares in the company hours before the news became public and the share price took a dive.

Martha Stewart denies having had such inside knowledge, but the deal is now under scrutiny from the US stock market watchdog and a committee of US Congress.

The real Martha

Born in August 1941 in New Jersey as Martha Kostyra, she grew up in a household that was decidedly not prosperous.

Martha Stewart's advice runs the gamut of good living

And early on, in her teens, she showed her trademark skills - making her own dresses, inventing new recipes for cakes, and taking on the gardening.

Fashion model scouts soon discovered her on the streets of New York, but strutting on the cat walk was not for Martha.

She left to study art history at Barnard College, where she met Andy Stewart, the son of a Wall Street stockbroker.

Shortly after their wedding in 1961 she began to invest in the stock market - the foundation of the family fortune.

Ms Stewart's true strength, though was "home making", a passion she discovered when the family bought a derelict house in Westport, Connecticut, and she took charge of its renovation.

When she opened a gourmet food shop, it was an instant success. A catering business for big companies and celebrities followed.

"Entertaining", her own guide book to being the perfect host, made her a household name in the US.

Expansion

In the 1980s she became famous - or notorious - for being a workaholic, and had to fend off a string of accusations that she took undue credit for the work and inspirations of other.

Martha's housemaking wisdom comes into US homes twelve times a year.

And not all was well in Martha's perfect world of life style. In 1987 she divorced her husband of 28 years.

A deal with Time Warner enabled her to expand her operations dramatically, although she later managed to claw back control over her own brand.

The Martha Stewart empire reaches well beyond the United States. The company has operations in Canada, Brazil and Japan, and had high hopes to make inroads into Europe as well.

At one point, Ms Stewart hoped to take Korea and then China, the world's biggest market, by storm.

For now, though, the best cook among America's chief executives will have to focus on fending off her detractors.

Investors, meanwhile, are wondering whether their perfectly arranged stock market portfolio may contain a blemish.

Analysts warn that Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia might lose its one and only asset should Martha Stewart herself be forced to leave the company.