After his relationship with Martha Stewart ended in 2008, Charles Simonyi married Lisa Persdotter, continued his work in software, and returned to the International Space Station in 2009. The best-known account of how Stewart says the breakup unfolded comes from her retrospective interview in the Netflix documentary Martha; it is her recollection, not an independently corroborated account of a private conversation.
What Martha Stewart said about the breakup
In the Netflix documentary Martha, Stewart recalled that she and Simonyi had been together for about 15 years. As reported by Vanity Fair, she said she learned while they were in bed that he planned to marry Lisa Persdotter. Stewart described the revelation as “the most horrible thing a person could do” and called the end of the relationship her “second divorce.”
That account should be understood as Stewart’s retrospective description of the exchange and her reaction. The cited coverage does not independently establish the details of their private conversation.
Simonyi married Lisa Persdotter in 2008
Simonyi married Persdotter, who is from Sweden, in November 2008. In a 2008 interview with Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine, he said, “I got married since the last flight [in November 2008, to Lisa Persdotter of Sweden].” He added, “That’s a big change in my life.” Those remarks document the marriage; they are not an account of his breakup with Stewart.
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His software career continued beyond Microsoft
Simonyi had left Microsoft in August 2002, years before the breakup. He later founded Intentional Software, a software engineering firm. NASA’s biography of Simonyi notes that his senior development roles at Microsoft included leading teams that developed Word and Excel. These sources establish earlier career milestones, not his present job or work status.
He returned to the International Space Station in 2009
Simonyi first visited the International Space Station in April 2007. In 2009, he made a second flight as a spaceflight participant on the Expedition 19 and 20 mission, as documented in NASA’s press kit. The record cited here supports those two visits; it does not establish that he was a career astronaut or that he flew to space again after 2009.
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What the documented timeline does—and does not—show
- 2002: Simonyi left Microsoft and later founded Intentional Software.
- April 2007: He made his first documented ISS visit.
- November 2008: He married Lisa Persdotter, the year his relationship with Stewart ended.
- 2009: He returned to the ISS as a spaceflight participant.
These milestones answer what happened in the years immediately after the relationship ended. The sources cited here do not provide a sufficiently current, independently verified account of Simonyi’s private life or present work, so they do not support a broader update about his circumstances today.
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