Stewart, in excerpts from the Barbara Walters interview set to air on ABC's "20/20" program on Friday, said she does not think she will go to prison. But she said the stock trading case has taken its toll on her.

"I think the last year and a half has been the most difficult part of my life," Stewart said in the interview, billed as the first since her indictment on allegations of obstruction of justice and securities fraud in June.

""But I'll get through it," she said. "I would like to pick up where I left off, get on with my good life, and do good things and good works."

Stewart, a home decorating guru who promotes a lifestyle of "good things," is scheduled to go on trial in January. The criminal charges stem from her sale of about 3,900 shares of biotechnology company ImClone Systems Inc. a day before the company reported bad news that sent shares plunging.

Stewart addressed her now-infamous appearance on CBS's "The Early Show" in June 2002, when the scandal first broke. During that appearance, an exasperated Stewart replied to follow-up questions while stabbing angrily at the cabbage, saying "I want to focus on my salad."

Stewart told Walters: "To tell you the truth, I have not been able to chop a cabbage since. No more coleslaw for me."

Stewart's legal travails have hurt her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. . The company, which publishes her magazines and has a line of home products sold at Kmart stores, lost $3.8 million, or 8 cents a share, in the third quarter, as revenues tumbled 28 percent.

The stock has dropped nearly 50 percent since the scandal broke last year. Stewart stepped down as chairman and chief executive after her indictment.

Asked by Walters if she thought she would ever be thought of as a corporate criminal, Stewart replied: "Absolutely not, and I certainly don't belong in that category."