The Moment
Martha Stewart did not survive prison, Instagram thirst traps, and a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover just to be taken out by a point guard’s size-whatever sneakers. And yet… here we are.
On a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” the 84-year-old lifestyle mogul explained that her now-famous broken toe came courtesy of New York Knicks star Jalen Brunson during a playoff game at Madison Square Garden back in May. She was seated courtside against the Indiana Pacers when Brunson crashed into her, landed partly in her lap, and – according to Martha – left her with a fractured big toe she’s jokingly dubbed the “Brunson Fracture.”
The culprit? Not just Brunson’s big feet, but Martha’s choice of footwear: chic, strappy, open-toed sandals right on the hardwood. On Fallon, she warned viewers, “Never, ever wear open-toed shoes to a game like that when you’re sitting on the floor.”
The twist: those same open-toed shoes are now the only ones she can wear, thanks to the injury. On the show she pointed to her gold Manolo Blahnik slingback sandals and basically said, this is my life now.
So yes, Martha Stewart went to a Knicks playoff game, got a star player in her lap, a broken toe on her foot, and a signed basketball for her grandchild. That’s what I call a very specific New York story.
The Take
Here’s what I love about this: Martha somehow turned a minor sports injury into both a fashion PSA and a personality flex.
We live in a world where courtside has become a runway – stilettos, tiny bags, fully coordinated looks, the whole thing. It’s less “watch the game” and more “watch me watch the game.” Martha walked into that culture, at 84, in gold sandals and designer shoes, and left with a medical souvenir and a story no influencer can buy.
And her reaction? Textbook Martha. When Brunson crashed into her, she says she calmly told him, “It’s OK,” even though he “broke my foot.” No dramatics, no courtside meltdown, just reassurance… and then she quietly told his parents afterward. If that isn’t the most mom-grandma-boss move imaginable, I don’t know what is.
The image of her grabbing his arm and noticing it was “icy cold” – not sweaty, just “cool as a cucumber” – is so specific it feels like a Martha Stewart recipe note. Even in chaos, she’s clocking the details.
There’s also something wonderfully on-brand about her turning a genuine annoyance – a painful fractured toe, overtime with no chance to get up and deal with it – into a witty name (“Brunson Fracture”), a footwear storyline (Only open-toed now! But make it Manolo!), and a gentle warning label for the rest of us.
If celebrity courtside culture is like sitting front row at a fashion show in the middle of an active construction site, Martha just reminded everyone: yes, the photos are cute, but the job is technically hazardous. Beauty might be pain, but in this case, it was also a charging guard.
Receipts
Martha Stewart warns against wearing sandals courtside after Knicks game injury: ‘I have the ‘Brunson Fracture’’ https://t.co/eV6iYinrT1 pic.twitter.com/Rb9D4Jtfp0
— Page Six (@PageSix) December 17, 2025
Let’s separate what’s actually confirmed from the fun embellishments.
- Confirmed: Martha Stewart appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” and recounted that New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson collided with her courtside during a Knicks-Pacers playoff game at Madison Square Garden, leaving her with a fractured big toe she nicknamed the “Brunson Fracture,” and prompting her warning about open-toed shoes courtside (as summarized in a December 17, 2025 Page Six style report, which cites the interview).
- Confirmed: On the same appearance, she said she was wearing open-toed gold Manolo Blahnik slingback sandals, that Brunson partially landed in her lap, that she told him “It’s OK” at the time, that she later mentioned it to his parents, and that she received a signed basketball for her grandchild (per the same recap of the NBC broadcast).
- Unverified / Just Vibes: Whether the term “Brunson Fracture” catches on beyond Martha’s own circle, and whether we’ll actually see a noticeable shift from stilettos to sneakers in celebrity courtside fashion because of this moment. Fun to imagine, not confirmed.
Sources: Martha Stewart’s interview on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon,” as described in the Dec. 17, 2025 episode recap on NBC; Page Six style coverage of Stewart’s comments and injury story published Dec. 17, 2025.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If you know Martha Stewart as “the woman who shows you how to fold napkins into swans,” you’re technically right, but you’re missing the recent chapters. She’s a longtime lifestyle mogul – cookbooks, TV shows, home goods, the whole domestic empire – who has also leaned hard into her late-life cool-girl era. In the last few years she’s posed in swimsuits, fronted fashion campaigns, and kept a lively Instagram presence that toggles between garden inspiration and unapologetic thirst traps. Jalen Brunson, for anyone not following the NBA, is the New York Knicks’ star guard and team captain, a key figure in the franchise’s resurgence and exactly the sort of player you want crashing toward the basket – just preferably not into Martha’s toes.
What’s Next
Realistically, Martha will heal, the toe will (eventually) forgive her, and she’ll go right on being busier than people half her age – she’s already fronting an American Eagle holiday campaign and reissuing her classic 1982 book “Entertaining.” The woman treats “slowing down” like a rumor.
The bigger ripple is cultural: does this nudge courtside style even an inch toward practicality? Maybe not overnight. But when the queen of elevated entertaining publicly says, “Wear closed-toe shoes if you’re on the floor,” it lands a little differently than your podiatrist’s lecture.
Don’t be shocked if we start seeing more designer sneakers and fewer delicate sandals hugging that sideline. Or, at minimum, more people silently weighing the question: “Do I want viral photos, or do I want all ten toes intact?” Martha, unsurprisingly, has managed to get both.
And if the Knicks have any sense of humor, they’ll lean into this – maybe a lighthearted acknowledgment the next time she’s at the Garden, or a tongue-in-cheek nod to the “Brunson Fracture” on social media. She’s not mad, she’s telling the story on late-night TV. That’s basically a celebrity gold star.
In the meantime, Martha has added one more line to her ever-growing personal brand: homemaking icon, thirst-trap pioneer, and now unofficial spokesperson for sports-adjacent foot safety.
Your turn: If you had courtside seats, are you dressing for fashion, for safety, or trying to thread the needle between Manolos and steel-toe chic?
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