The actor Sharon Stone said the legal harm caused him to lose custody of his son after the presiding judge in his 2004 divorce case asked the four-year-old if he knew his mother made “sex films”.
Stone spoke on the Table for Two podcast and alleged that her role in Paul Verhoeven’s 1992 psychological thriller Basic Instinct was “gunned against her” in the custody fight for her son, Roan, whom she adopted with her son. then-husband Phil Bronstein in 2000.
“I lost custody of my child,” Stone said. “When the judge asked my child – my tiny little boy, ‘Do you know your mom makes sex movies?’ Like, that kind of abuse by the system — that I was seen as the kind of parent I was, because I made that movie.
Stone continued, referencing the infamous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct in which his genitals can be briefly glimpsed.
“People are walking around with no clothes on at all on regular TV now and you’ve seen maybe a 16th of a second of possible nudity from me – and I’ve lost custody of my child,” she said. “Are you kidding?”
Stone was granted visitation rights for her son, who is now 22. The judge’s decision contributed to her admission to hospital later that year for heart problems, she said. “It broke my heart,” Stone said. “It literally broke my heart.”
Stone’s long career was largely defined by the dazzling nudity in Basic Instinct, and the actor said he was shocked when his peers at the 1993 Golden Globes ceremony laughed when his name was read as the nominee.
“It was awful. I was so humbled,” Stone said. “Does anyone have any idea how difficult it was to play this role? was breaking all the boundaries and that everyone was protesting against, and the pressure. I auditioned for this for nine months. They offered it to 13 other people and now you’re laughing at me. I just wanted to crawl in a hole .
Last year, Stone published a memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, in which she reiterated her belief that Verhoeven tricked her into exposing herself in the scene, saying she had no idea a such photo would be used until it was in a screening alongside agents and lawyers.
“That’s how I first saw my vagina, long after I was told, ‘You can’t see anything – I just need you to take your panties off, because the white reflects the light, so we know you have panties,” Stone wrote. “Now here’s the deal. It didn’t matter anymore. It was me and my parts up there. I had decisions to make . »
Stone said she then went to the screening booth and slapped Verhoeven in the face. He has long claimed that she was always aware of the nudity.