Martha Stewart sparks outrage with controversial 'hungry person' Halloween costume

Martha Stewart has been criticised for a Halloween costume where she appeared to be dressed as a poor person holding up a sign saying she was hungry and in need of help.

Strange Halloween costumes are par for the course in celebrity world, with Heidi Klum typically taking the cake, but there was a lot of backlash for Martha Stewart as she shared pictures of her spooky season costume to social media.

An Instagram post featured some of her candles in a carousel of images, but the most controversial one was an apparent Halloween costume of a poor person with a sign saying: "I am hungry. Help me!!"

A similar post is still on her Facebook account at time of writing, while over on Instagram her next post had comments turned off and she hasn't yet engaged with various other comments criticising the post elsewhere.

"We all saw, Martha," one person commented under her new post, followed by: "Are you trolling us after last nights post?".

Another meanwhile asked: "Nah, where that other post?" after it appeared to have been removed.

Someone else said 'the level of out of touch is stellar' as others pointed out it was in 'poor taste' to dress up like someone going through financial hardship for a funny costume.

"I’m not particularly sensitive to Halloween costumes, but this is upsetting… she’s standing outside her mansion wearing this," one Reddit user penned.

Others questioned whether it was an 'AI deepfake hack' as they thought it might not be real, but Stewart's account has taken the post down and offered no explanation as to what else it might be but a Halloween costume.

There were however a handful of voices saying they thought the costume was 'hilarious' and something they really enjoyed, as one person commented: "It's Halloween ppl. My gosh not everything is meant to be taken so serious."

Another said: "Can everyone just calm down?"

Stewart is famously obsessed with Halloween and has debuted dozens of highly elaborate costumes over the decades for magazine covers and parties.

A blog post on her website lists many of her most memorable looks over the years, including a regal outfit as the Queen of Halloween for her 2024 cover of Martha Stewart Halloween, and as 'FairyGrand Martha', showing her in a flowy pink dress and wand as she cosplayed as a fairy godmother.

And, in 2017, she donned a look inspired by Roy Lichtenstein's pop art, wearing a blonde wig and heavy makeup to create a 2D comic book effect on her face and clothing.

Halloween may be over for another year, but if you were thinking of cosplaying as as someone in need of food you might want to reconsider your costume choice.

LADbible Group has contacted Martha Stewart's representatives for comment.