The 1992 film Basic Instinct, directed by Paul Verhoeven with a screenplay by Joe Eszterhas, was controversial for its use of violence and sexuality. The plot centers on solving the murder of rock star Johnny Boz, with the prime suspect being his girlfriend, Catherine Tramell, played by Sharon Stone. In a recent podcast appearance, Sharon opened up about the high cost of playing that role.
On the iHeartPodcast Table for Two With Bruce Bozzi, Sharon revealed that she was hospitalized after losing custody of her son. The judge used her role against her. She also was laughed at during the Golden Globes. It was not an easy burden to bear.
Sharon has three adopted sons. She shares her son Roan with ex-husband Phil Bronstein. She temporarily lost custody of Roan in the early 2000s in part because of the film.
"I lost custody of my child. When the judge asked my child — my tiny little boy, 'Do you know your mother makes sex movies? Like, this kind of abuse by the system because I made that movie,” Sharon revealed.
It is hard to believe this treatment of Sharon, especially with all the nudity on television today.
"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," she went on to say. This not only impacted her mental health but also her physical health. "I ended up in the Mayo Clinic with extra heartbeats in the upper and lower chambers of my heart … it broke my heart."
Sharon also felt like a black sheep among her industry peers because of the film. "I got nominated for a Golden Globe for that part. When I went to the Golden Globes, and they called my name, a bunch of people in the room laughed,” she remembered. She felt “horrible” and “so humiliated.”
She wished people knew how hard she worked and what it cost her. "Does anybody have any idea how hard it was to play that part? How gut wrenching and frightening, and how much work it was to play this part right and kind of try to carry this complex movie that was really breaking all boundaries, and everybody was protesting against — and the pressure,” Sharon mused.
