Martha Stewart hoping UK situation is resolved

NEW YORK (CNN) - Lifestyle guru Martha Stewart hopes a situation that has left her unable to enter the United Kingdom can be "resolved," the chairman of the company she founded said Friday.

"Martha loves England; the country and English culture are near and dear to her heart," Charles Koppelman, chairman of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said in a written statement. "She has engagements with English companies and business leaders and hopes this can be resolved so that she will be able to visit soon."

The statement was released after reports in British newspapers, led by the Telegraph, that she had been refused a visa to enter Great Britain because of her criminal convictions four years ago.