Sharon Stone's mother only studied till 8th grade. She later went on to complete her education.
Sharon Stone has paved the way for herself in Hollywood with her boldness, glamour, and adept acting skills. Though the actress has had a very successful professional life, her personal life was more or less an emotional rollercoaster ride. However, the actress went through all of it to emerge stronger. In a speech honoring women, Stone opened up about her personal life and paid respects to her mother, who is the backbone of her success.
According to People, Stone revealed that her mother Dorothy Stone began working at the age of 9. Coming from a family of Irish maids, her mother gave up her childhood to earn a living.
“She was given away to have a better life by being a maid in a local dentist’s home,” said the actress at the inaugural Women’s Choice Awards in Hollywood in 2017. Though her parents could not complete their education, Stone always dreamed of achieving her goals academically. Unfortunately, growing up, she was faced with a lot of challenges that stood in the way of her education.
She continued, "I was the first girl in my family who got to go to college, but I didn’t finish. We fell in a lot of complicated times in my family and I left. I wanted to go to New York, I wanted to pursue my dreams.”
Luckily, Stone still managed to make it in Hollywood. She is proud of the success story she created for herself in the entertainment industry. She credited her achievements to her mother, who showed her how important it is to become independent.
“You know, my mother wasn’t sweet. She didn’t cuddle me. She wasn’t very nice. She wasn’t very warm,” recounted Stone.
“She never really told me she loved me, and a couple of years ago when I said, ‘Mom, you never really let me lean on you,’ she said, ‘That’s right, I taught you to stand on your own two goddam feet.' And for a long time, I felt bad about that. Until I really realized what it must have been like to be a 9-year-old maid," she said.
Meanwhile, Stone's relationship with her mother suffered in the past due to her abusive childhood. In her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, the actress revealed she and her sister were sexually abused by her maternal grandfather, Clarence Lawson. She even spoke of how her mother's failure to protect them eventually stood in the way of their relationship. “I have felt rage and indignation, and I have responded with condescension and cruelty,” said the actress, alluding to her interaction with her mother, according to Closer Weekly. She added, "Eventually I faced myself and stopped my relationship with her.”
Years later, Stone managed to repair her relationship with Dorothy by opening up about her devastating childhood experience. “I had to meet my mother as a person, separate from my childhood experiences and judgments of her, and know her from an adult perspective,” said the actress. Stone's reconciliation with Dorothy allowed her to see another side of her mother. "I saw a woman I never really knew, a brilliant woman who never had a chance to dream," said Stone, according to Closer Weekly.
Speaking at the awards function, Stone also stated that she recently fulfilled her dream of finishing college. Empowered by Hilary Clinton's presidential run, Stone realized she “could be anything that I wanted to be.” Consequently, she completed college online and got herself a diploma.
“What [Clinton] did meant so much to me, not just for me, but for my mother and my grandmother and my great-grandmother who had cleaned so many floors and scrubbed so many toilets and had been treated so sh—ly along the way,” said the actress. She also stated that her parents too completed their education.
"Both my mom and dad had 7th and 8th-grade educations. And my dad went back to school and my mom went back to school for her high school education and she graduated with my graduating class," revealed the actress.
Further, Stone encouraged other women to trust their intuition and asked them to be grateful to the women who paved a path ahead for them.
“I want you young ladies to think about that. I want you to think about all the women that came before you whose heads not only pounded on the glass ceiling, but whose teeth pounded on the dirt floor,” said Stone.
She continued, "You women are the creative force of this life. To the women who came before us, deep down in the dirt, head-smashing the ceiling — now is the time."
Stone has had a difficult journey and she is undoubtedly an inspiration to many.
References:
https://people.com/celebrity/sharon-stone-opens-up-about-mother-womens-choice-awards/
https://www.closerweekly.com/posts/sharon-stone-how-confronting-her-childhood-abuse-helped-her-heal/
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Stephen Shugerman
