"This kind of abuse by the system, that it was considered what kind of parent I was because I made that movie," she said.
Sharon Stone is reflecting on the emotional toll that acting in Basic Instinct had on her life as a mom. The 64-year-old actress made an appearance on this week's Table for Two with Bruce Bozzi podcast, produced by iHeartMedia and Air Mail, and opened up about the consequences of the 1992 movie, including how she lost custody of her son. "I lost custody of my child," she shared. "When the judge asked my child – my tiny little boy, 'Do you know your mother makes sex movies?' This kind of abuse by the system, that it was considered what kind of parent I was because I made that movie," she said, per PEOPLE.
Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell in the thriller film Basic Instinct, 1992.
— Edward's Cinema World🎥🎞📽🎬💻 (@moviemaven2023) February 27, 2023
Image courtesy of TriStar/StudioCanal #SharonStone pic.twitter.com/sfM6bBftnh
She added, "People are walking around with no clothes on at all on regular TV now and you saw maybe like a sixteenth of a second of possible nudity of me – and I lost custody of my child."
The actress claims the judge asked her small son, 'Do you know your mother makes sex movies?' https://t.co/DPwRHU14Uc
— TooFab (@TooFab) March 7, 2023
Stone, who is a parent to boys Quinn, 16, Laird, 17 and Roan, 22, further stated that it literally "broke her heart" to lose custody of her son Roan at the time, per PEOPLE. "I ended up in the Mayo Clinic with extra heartbeats in the upper and lower chambers of my heart," she revealed. "It broke my heart," she expressed.
Stone has previously opened up about the custody battle in her book, The Beauty of Living Twice, published in 2021. She describes in the book how she lost primary custody of Roan, who was a toddler at the time after she and Phil Bronstein split up in 2004.
Citing a confidentiality deal and out of "respect" for Roan, Stone stated that she was unable to discuss the circumstances surrounding her loss of custody at the time. She did express her feelings about the situation, though, per Entertainment Tonight. "I was punished for changing the rules of how we see women, and I understand that by writing this book I could be punished again," she wrote. "But this time I'm not afraid."
Stone "couldn't function" after losing custody, as a result, she "slept every afternoon" and "just couldn't get up." Stone quickly discovered that she was anorexic and had a prolapsed valve. "I had stopped eating and fallen apart and hadn’t even noticed," she wrote. "I had just lain down and given up. My heart, it seemed, was actually broken."
Stone continued to fight for her son while also working to better her health. "I did that for 13 years, I played a very long, very difficult game of custody chess in an effort to get him everything I could for his health and well-being," she wrote. "Now my home and my family are complete and I am able to re-find success in the rest of my life, as my heart is also complete."
References:
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/867-table-for-two-105373224/episode/sharon-stone-110073134/
https://people.com/parents/sharon-stone-recalls-losing-custody-son-after-basic-instinct-role/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Gareth Cattermole
