Martha Stewart released from jail

Martha Stewart, the lifestyle trendsetter who built a media empire, was released from prison yesterday and began five months of house arrest as she plotted to rehabilitate her image.

Ms Stewart, who built a media empire from a home catering business, left a West Virginia prison after serving five months for lying to investigators about a stock trade.

But while five months ago her image seemed dented by her conviction, now America's best-known style guru wants to reach even bigger heights.

But first Ms Stewart enjoyed time at home in her 61-hectare suburban estate in Bedford, New York. Yesterday morning she walked with her dog and fed her horses while flower arrangements were delivered and plumbers did some repairs.

"I'm just getting acclimated, it's a lot different here than at Alderson," Ms Stewart told reporters outside her home, referring to the West Virginia prison she just left.

Looking healthy and thinner, Ms Stewart offered coffee and doughnuts to journalists.

"The conventional wisdom was that she would be toast, that her image and brand was based on a set of values that were undermined by her conviction," said Adam Hanft of Hanft Unlimited, which advises large companies on image.

"She is perceived as having comported herself with dignity in prison by doing menial tasks, by cleaning the toilet instead of telling someone to clean the toilet," he said.

Mr Hanft said her comments from jail on prison conditions and mandatory sentencing rules resonated with Americans.

Ms Stewart was released from prison at 12.30 a.m. (0530 GMT) and was driven to a local airport. Accompanied by daughter Alexis, she stepped from a vehicle into the glare of TV lights, smiled and waved to supporters who shouted greetings, and boarded a private jet.

"The experience of the last five months in Alderson, West Virginia, has been life altering and life affirming," Ms Stewart said in a statement on her website. "Right now, as you can imagine, I am thrilled to be returning to my more familiar life... Certainly, there is no place like home."

In her absence, the value of stock in her company Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia more than doubled. But circulation of her magazine and ad revenues are still lower thanks to competition from rival titles.

Now Ms Stewart wants her firm to expand. Company executives are mulling a raft of ways to do so - selling frozen foods, home improvement items such as kitchen cabinets, packaging a line of "how to" videos and expanding to China.