The Iconic Movie That Caused Martha Stewart To Dump Anthony Hopkins

Martha Stewart made a name (and a fortune) for herself thanks to the culinary world. Anthony Hopkins won his first Academy Award in 1992 for portraying Hannibal Lecter in "Silence of the Lambs," a man who also knew his way around the kitchen, though his specialty was, of course, a world away from Stewart's. In fact, it was around the time Hopkins was making waves for his incredible performance as the genius cannibal that the two met, she told Howard Stern in December 2006 (via New York Post).

Martha had recently ended her 29-year-marriage to publisher Andrew Stewart when she had a fling with Hopkins, as People noted in a 1995 profile. The 1990 divorce was no walk in the park. Martha's mother, Martha Kostyra, worried that her daughter might be scarred for life, she told the outlet. "I don't think she'll ever get over it," Kostyra explained. Despite sharing her only child, Alexis, with Andrew, Martha cut all ties with her ex-husband, she revealed to People in 2020. "Getting divorced was a terrible thing for me, because we were the first to divorce in my family," she said. "And that we haven't spoken since the divorce is even more painful."

Martha's wounds were still very much open when she met Hopkins. Even though it was probably too soon after her bitter divorce to be looking for a serious relationship, Martha actually had a very specific reason for breaking up with Hopkins — and it had nothing to do with the actor's real self. 

Anthony Hopkins may have won worldwide praise for his portrayal of Hannibal Lecter in the 1991 psychological horror "Silence of the Lambs," but it wasn't exactly winning the ladies' hearts — at least not Martha Stewart's. Speaking on "The Ellen DeGeneres Show" on January 20, Stewart revealed she dated Hopkins in the 1990s but broke up with him because she couldn't dissociate him from his memorable character. "I have a big, scary house in Maine that's way by itself on a hundred acres in a forest and I couldn't even imagine taking Anthony Hopkins there. I couldn't because all I could think of was him eating, you know ..." Stewart said with a laugh.

Stewart's short fling with the Welsh actor wasn't publicly known at the time. Stewart admitted to her involvement with Hopkins in 2006 while discussing her love life with Howard Stern (via the New York Post). She noted his personality had nothing with do with her decision to break things off. "I would have probably had a very nice relationship with Anthony Hopkins but I couldn't get past the Lecter thing," she said. 

In fact, Stewart felt a strong attraction to Hopkins. "He's the most charming man, the most charming man," she said on NPR's "Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!" in 2012. But the thought of inviting Hopkins to her at secluded house kept her from pursuing the relationship. "I kept thinking, 'I don't know if I can do that.'"