Martha pic lures proposals

Photo: Instagram

Martha Stewart has received over a dozen marriage proposals after posting a sultry poolside selfie on Instagram last week.

The 78 year old TV personality, who posed for the snap at her East Hampton, New York pad, was stunned when she was quickly inundated with responses.

"I've had 14 proposals, I don't know what for, but they're proposals," she tells E! "I haven't checked lately, that was the first day."

But the lifestyle expert insists the sexy image, in which her lips are puckered as she gets out of the water, was entirely unplanned.

"(I) just thought I looked great coming out of the pool," she told Entertainment Tonight of the inspiration behind the picture.

"My camera came on backwards, you know, selfie mode, and I looked so nice. The sun was on my face. I thought, 'Oh, that looks pretty,' so I took the picture. It looked good."

The hot photo caused a real stir on social media, with comedienne Chelsea Handler even sharing a shot of herself copying Martha's seductive pose, which attracted a funny comment from Stewart.

"Dear Chelsea, I'm so happy that you like my post well enough to emulate it," she wrote underneath Handler's photo, before quipping, "I do think my pool is a little bit prettier than yours and that my facial expression is a little bit more relaxed. Nevertheless you are a beautiful girl and F***ING too young to be emulating me."