MARTHA STEWART - CYBILL: 'I USED MARTHA'S PRISON NOTES TO GET INTO CHARACTER'

Playing MARTHA STEWART in an upcoming TV movie was easy for CYBILL SHEPHERD - she used the lifestyle queen's own diary notes.

Shepherd, who has played Stewart on TV before, read through the daily journal her real-life character wrote on her Internet website daily while she was imprisoned for stock fraud, to get into her role in the upcoming project.

The film covers Stewart's time in jail and features scenes of her teaching her fellow inmates the art of turning bland rooms into nice living spaces.

The MOONLIGHTING star says, "There's very little dramatic license except in the playing of the emotions.

"Essentially, it's public record. When she went to prison she documented everything through her website and one of the first things I did was have that printed up in a notebook.

"We know exactly what she was thinking and what she was doing in prison."