Sharon Stone claims she lost custody of her son due to Basic Instinct role
A judge allegedly asked her son if he knew Stone made "sex movies," according to the Academy Award nominated actor
Throughout Sharon Stone’s career, the Casino actor has been upfront about the unrelenting misogyny and sexism she’s faced in Hollywood over the boundary-pushing roles she’s taken. Stone’s career-defining role as femme fatale Catherine Tramell in erotic thriller Basic Instinct earned her a Golden Globe nomination, but also caused controversy due to its depiction of sex and violence. While many people would view that as an actor simply doing their job, Stone claimed in a recent interview on the podcast Table For Two that her Basic Instinct part was used against her by a judge during her custody battle for her son.
“I lost custody of my child,” said Stone to podcast host Bruce Bozzi (via Jezebel). “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, this kind of abuse, that I considered what kind of parent I was because I made that movie.”
The reference from the judge of “sex movies” obviously seems to be in relation to Basic Instinct’s famous interrogation scene, where Stone’s character flashes Michael Douglas’ detective Nick Curran while uncrossing her legs. While causing outrage at the time of its release in 1992, Stone said it doesn’t compare to the nudity shown on TV and film today.
“People are walking around with no clothes on at all on regular TV now,” argued Stone. “And you saw maybe like a sixteenth of a second of possible nudity of me.”
The stress of the situation was so intense for the Total Recall actor that she had to be hospitalized at the Mayo Clinic for “extra heartbeats” found in the chambers of her heart. “It broke my heart,” Stone said.
After being married for about five years, Stone and her former husband Phil Bronstein (editor of the San Francisco Chronicle) filed for divorce in 2003, resulting in the custody battle of their adopted son Roan. However, Stone’s account of the events seems muddled against The Mercury News’ reporting on court documents, which shows Stone initially shared custody of Roan with her ex-husband until Bronstein was given primary custody in 2008. In a court document acquired by the publication, Stone’s loss of custody was attributed in most part due to her being “unavailable for Roan on a constant basis,” as she traveled a lot for work.
Even with the confusion on the timing of events, it’s still disheartening to hear that the sexism Stone faced for taking more provocative roles reached her personal life to this degree. Thankfully, Stone’s relationship with her elder son seems to be in a good place despite that judge’s alleged comments, with him and her other two sons residing at Stone’s home as of 2018.