Martha Stewart is a victim of the “Brunson fracture.”
The entrepreneur shared a cautionary tale about shoes on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Tuesday. The entrepreneur discussed how she had her toe broken by Jalen Brunson, captain of the New York Knicks, when she was sitting courtside at an NBA game earlier this year.
“See those open-toe shoes?” she said on the show when a photo of her at a Knicks vs. Pacers game was shown. “Never, ever wear open-toed shoes to a game like that when you’re sitting on the floor.”
As seen below, Stewart was at the game wearing an open-toed sandal with a woven gold upper. This footwear choice would ultimately be an issue for her when she found herself in the path of Brunson.
Martha Stewart attends the New York Knicks vs. Indiana Pacers game at Madison Square Garden on May 21 in New York City.
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Stewart has a name for the injury given to her by the Knicks guard, whom she praised before diving into the unfortunate courtside incident.
“I have the ‘Brunson Fracture.’ He stepped on my big toe — that’s why I’m wearing open-toed shoes, because it’s the only kind of shoes I can wear now,” Stewart said, who was wearing minimalist gold slingback sandals from Manolo Blahnik with a simple toe strap and low block heel on the late night show. She wore the same Patopia style at the 2025 Library Lions gala at the New York Public Library in November.
Martha Stewart on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Dec. 16.
Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty Images
Stewart’s pain was prolonged because the game didn’t end in the 48 regulation minutes.
Stewart shared, “It was like in the last five minutes of the game with the Pacers, and then they went into overtime, which made it even more painful because I couldn’t get up and leave to go take care of my toe.”
Stewart shared that she knew it was broken right away. “And he sat on my lap, too. Comes crashing down, sits on my lap and I grabbed his arm and his arm was like icy cold,” she said. “And I thought, he’s a basketball player, he should be sweaty — he was cool as a cucumber.”
Her response to the issue was simple: “I said ‘It’s OK,’ that’s all I said was ‘It’s OK.’ And he didn’t know he broke my foot, but he broke my foot.”
She added, “And he’s not even big, he’s only 6 feet, 2 [inches] or something like that. And he has big feet though.”
Asked if she’s spoken to Brunson about it, she revealed that she shared it with his parents, who found the situation funny. Brunson’s dad is an assistant coach for the Knicks.
While having her toe broken by an NBA star might have been painful and continues to limit her shoe choices, Stewart did receive a gift: “All I got out of it was a signed basketball for my grandchild.”
Stewart shared the story the same day the Knicks won the NBA Cup.
