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ALDERSON, W. Va. (CNN) - Despite rumors that Martha Stewart was a cold person, a former mayor who served time with her in prison said "she was not that way at all."
Sara Bost, former mayor of Irvington, N.J., who served 11 months at the minimum security prison in Alderson, W. Va., said the other female inmates "found her to be just a regular person, that she would carry her own bags, make her own bed, wait in the line like everyone else."
Stewart left prison early Friday after serving five months for four felony counts of lying and obstructing justice in a 2001 stock sale. She will spend the next five months confined to her Bedford, N.Y., estate, wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. She'll be on probation for two years after that.
"There was all of the rumors going around that she was stiff, and would be to herself. And she was not that way at all," Bost said on CNN's "Paula Zahn Now."
The women met in the visitor's lounge when Stewart offered Bost's 6-month-old granddaughter a snack.
Bost also saw Stewart's creative side, she said. One night the prison menu was chicken pot pie, cucumber salad and rolls.
"She came up with the idea of cucumber sandwiches. We all tried it and it was very tasty."
"I didn't ever see a side where she was depressed, or pity herself, have a pity party," Bost added. She showed "you can be as tough as the situation and keep walking with your head high."
Bost said she doesn't expect to hear from Stewart because as a condition of probation, felons are not supposed to contact each other.
Stewart's lawyer, Walter Dellinger, said he believes Stewart has become "more reflective" during her stay in prison, where her job was to clean the administration building.
Richard Feigen, a friend of Stewart's, said, "She told me she learned a lot about how things are on the other side of the tracks. She's knows a lot about these families, cares about them. She's gotten sort of mellow."
"She's achieved a certain kind of serenity. She didn't used to listen much. She knew what she should do and went about it. Now she listens."
Dellinger said during one visit, Stewart got chicken wings from a vending machine and put them in a microwave. She said they were quite good, but the lawyer said he grimaced and thought: "Gee, her standards have really changed."
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