Actress Sharon Stone may be one of the most iconic femme fatales that Hollywood has ever seen, but she’s had a troublesome personal life over the years. Today, Stone is a mom to three adopted sons, but few know about her custody battle over her first son with her ex-husband Bronstein.
The court dispute was a long ordeal that revealed a ton of Stone’s questionable parenting decisions. From accusations of neglect to neurotic nitpicking, the court made Stone out to be a seriously problematic mom. Take a look at what the actress was like behind closed doors as a first-time parent.
Stone Was Able To Move Past Her First Failed Marriage Easily As There Were No Kids Involved
At 64 years old, Stone has been married twice in her life. Her first marriage was to Michael Greenburg, a producer who had made a name for himself on the 80s MacGyver adventure series. The pair met while they were working on the set of The Vegas Strip War and hit it off immediately. After only a few short months of dating, they tied the knot.
But their romance wasn’t to last, and after they worked together on the 1986 adventure comedy Allan Quatermain and the Lost City of Gold, Stone and Greenburg parted ways. They divorced after only three years of marriage, but since there were no kids involved, their separation was relatively easy. Unfortunately, it wasn’t going to be that easy for Stone the next time around.
Sharon Fell Head Over Heels For a Dashing Newspaper Editor and Flew To San Francisco To Live With Him
Stone started dating newspaper editor Phil Bronstein in the early 90s, moving to San Francisco to be with him. Everything was amazing at the start of their relationship – Bronstein proposed to Stone with a three-carat diamond ring, and they had a glamorous star-studded wedding with James Woods, Nell Carter, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Ray Charles, and Melanie Griffith among the attendees.
The wedding actually came as a surprise to their guests, who thought they were turning up to a Valentine’s Day party! After the wedding, Stone and Bronstein wasted no time in trying for a family. Stone was 39 years old at the time, but both wanted children just as bad as each other. But neither of them knew how hard it was going to be to start a family.
Stone Experienced Three Miscarriages In the First Few Months of Her Marriage to Bronstein
Stone did end up getting pregnant, but she lost the child five months into the pregnancy. Sadly, Stone would go on to suffer two more miscarriages, and both times, she would also lose the baby at five months old. Something bizarre was going on, and eventually Stone would be able to get an answer as to why she wasn’t able to carry the babies to full-term.
But it would take time before she got an answer from medical professionals. In the meantime, she was emotionally distraught, wondering what she could be doing better and asking herself what went wrong each time. Later in life, she would speak out about this challenging time in her life: “It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly with some kind of sense of failure.”
Stone and Bronstein Decided To Start the Adoption Process After Their Second Miscarriage
It would have been an even darker period in Stone’s life had she not talked about options with her husband Bronstein after the second miscarriage. “I think when we go through this as a family, it’s devastating that the medical community is not paying the attention that’s needed,” Stone later stated, but luckily, both Bronstein and Stone were open to other options.
While they had already been through so much, they decided to begin the adoption process in the hopes that one day, they would have the family they had always dreamed of. But neither Stone nor Bronstein expected it to happen so quickly for them. Amazingly, they got the call from the adoption agency right on time.
Stone Finds Out That She Has a Genetic Disease That Will Make It Near-Impossible To Give Birth
Finally, Stone discovered what had gone wrong for her in every pregnancy. After several tests and checks, the doctors concluded that Stone had an auto-immune disease called Lupus, whereby her body’s immune system attacks healthy tissue and organs. She was also discovered to have an Rh-positive blood type, making it even harder for her to stay pregnant.
Looking back at this period in her life, Stone explained, “The Rh factor is a genetic thing, so all of the (my) siblings have the Rh factor.” She told the news show Extra, “I can say that I had three, five-and-a-half-month miscarriages and no one had any answer for me [as to] what’s going on, why [it was] happening to me.”
Stone and Bronstein Finally Get Some Incredible News That Sees Them Embark on Their Journey To Parenthood
The day after her third devastating miscarriage, Stone and Bronstein finally got some good news. Stone described what happened: “I found out I was going to be a parent the day after I lost my child. It was 2000… On our final attempt to have a baby naturally, I had to go through painful surgery – and 36 hours of labor – to deliver a stillborn.”
Stone continues: “It was on our way home afterwards, one of the darkest moments of my life, that I got a call from an adoption lawyer: he had a client with a baby boy due in a few weeks.” Both Stone and Bronstein were over the moon, with Stone writing that she “felt as if God was throwing me a life raft.” And neither of them would have long to wait before becoming a parent: “Six weeks later, I listened over the phone to my son Roan being born, in keeping with the terms of our closed adoption.”
They Were on Cloud Nine When Roan Joseph Bronstein Was Born In 2000
On May 22, 2000, Stone and Bronstein’s adopted son was born, and they named him Roan. “From the moment I held him, I was in awe. I sat by his bassinet through the night just to watch him sleep.” Stone admitted to having first-time parent nerves, stating that “Like most first-time parents, I worried constantly, but there was no need. Babies speak a language all mothers are instinctively fluent in, whether or not a child is biologically related to them.
But Stone felt that she had a special connection with Roan: “I immediately knew the difference between his various cries and what it was he wanted from me.” Now that Roan finally was here, Stone was cherishing every moment she had with him. “I remember lifting him up to a flower, and saying, ‘I cannot tell you how long I have waited for you to get here so that I could show you this.’
Stone Is Suddenly Rushed To Hospital Where She Is Told She Has a Brain Hemorrhage and Has To Spend the Next Eight Months In Bed
Even though Roan was just a baby, he was teaching Stone so much about herself, including how to sit back and savor the little things: “Every detail in my life became a little more magical just because I was sharing it with him.” But Stone didn’t get to enjoy it for long, as she suffered a brain hemorrhage only a few months after Roan was born.
It was 2001 when Stone “came out of the hospital with short and long-term memory loss.” She spent the next eight months bed-ridden, slowly returning to health. “My lower left leg was numb. I couldn’t hear out of my right ear. The side of my face was falling down. I thought, ‘I’ll never be pretty again. Who’s going to want to be around me?” Sharon later recalled. Both her newborn son and career depended on her.
Stone Compares Herself To Princess Diana, Claiming That They Were Both Quickly “Forgotten”
Later in life, Stone would look back at this time in her life and recall how she was quickly “forgotten” after needing to take some time out to recover from the hemorrhage. “I was like the hottest movie star, you know?” she told Variety magazine about her life before the 2001 stroke.
Stone continued: “It was like Miss Princess Diana and I were so famous — and she died, and I had a stroke. And we were forgotten.” Her acting career was slipping away from her while she was forced to recover in bed: “I lost everything I had. I lost my place in the business.” But at the time, she didn’t know just how hard things were about to get.
Something Seemed Different About Bronstein, As Stone Recalls How He “Didn’t See Me, Talk to Me, Look at Me”
On top of her health issues, Stone was starting to notice something changing in her relationship with Bronstein. He started to act differently around her, as she recalled: “He just didn’t see me, talk to me, look at me.” In Hindsight, she understood that maybe things hadn’t always been as perfect between them as they seemed.
Today, Stone believes that “his initial intention with me was probably corrupt.” She admitted, “I was suckered. I’m embarrassed to say that.” According to media reports at the time, their marriage had indeed been under an enormous amount of stress, what with their young son, Stone’s health issues, and her failing career.
In 2003, Bronstein Filed For Divorce, But They Were Going To Have Joint Custody of Roan
Time didn’t heal things between Stone and Bronstein, and in 2003 Bronstein filed for divorce from Stone, citing “irreconcilable differences.” They had been married for five years and had one son together, but it didn’t seem as though there were going to be any issues. Bronstein’s lawyer even stated that the couple had parted ways on friendly terms and were looking to have joint custody of Roan.
“They are trying to achieve an amicable and mutual dissolution of their marriage and are committed to being parents of their child and to doing this in as friendly and non-controversial manner as possible,” attorney Nordin Blacker stated. “There will be no drama here. They both have the interests of their three-year-old at heart and are trying to resolve this in a very private manner.” But it didn’t work out that way.
A Simple Permission Request To Change Roan’s School Turned Into a Custody Battle Over Their Son
Stone had moved out of North California, where she lived with Bronstein, to South California. Roan was still going to school close to where his dad lived, but Sharon wanted that to change. She wanted Roan to go to a school in South California near her home, and went to court to get permission to enroll him.
Stone had no idea what she was in for. She didn’t get the quick approval from the court to change her son’s school but rather had her parenting abilities called into question. What was at first an amicable separation between Stone and Bronstein turned into “a war over Roan,” as People magazine called it, that lasted several years.
The Judge Accuses Sharon of Being an “Overreactive” Mother Who Makes Problems “Painfully Real” For Roan
Judge Anne-Christine Massull was presiding over Stone and Bronstein’s case, and she was extremely suspicious of the actress’ parenting choices. The judge accused Stone of being “overreactive” when it came to her son and stated it explicitly: “Mother appears to overreact to many medical issues involving Roan.”
In one instance, the judge described how Stone had wrongly diagnosed her son with a spine disorder, believing that she jumped to conclusions and caused Roan undue stress. The Judge wrote: “Unfortunately, the problem caused by Mother’s overreactions is painfully real for this child.”
The Court Reveals That Stone Wanted To Give Roan Botox Injections To Combat Foot Odor
One surprising example of Stone’s “overreactive” tendencies was stated in court, and it showed a very different side of the actress. The court document read: “Another example of an overreaction is that Mother suggested that Roan should have Botox injections in his feet to resolve a problem he had with foot odor.”
The judge went on to praise Bronstein for finding an alternative to botox: “As Father appropriately noted, the simple and common sense approach of making sure Roan wore socks with his shoes and used foot deodorant corrected the odor problem without the need for any invasive procedure on this young child.”
Stone Is Accused of Exposing Roan To Potentially Damaging and Unnecessary Treatments and Then Withholding Crucial Medical Information
The judge believed that Stone’s overreactive tendencies did have a negative effect on her young son. She stated that Stone had been subjecting the “basically healthy” child to costly and possibly damaging medical procedures that were totally unnecessary for Roan to undergo.
The court stated that the “spinal condition” that Stone believed Roan to be suffering from was actually just a typical case of constipation, and the judge condemned Stone for failing to share medical information with his father: “Including the names… of professionals treating Roan, or the fact Roan is being treated”.
The Judge Doesn’t Believe Stone’s Claim That She Puts Her Son First, Stating That She Has Done “Little To Make This Evident”
Stone had more accusations thrown her way. The judge made it clear that she doubted Stone’s priorities, suggesting that the actress was more concerned with her career than with her only child. Stone claimed that she had put her career on hold for Roan, but the judge had a piercing response.
“If Mother has, in fact, limited her career to make herself available for Roan, she has done little to make this evident to Roan, his school or this Court,” the judge stated. It was a harsh critique on Stone, suggesting that the actress hadn’t tried hard enough to make it look like she prioritized Roan.
The Actress Is Accused of Delegating Her Responsibilities as a Mother To a Series of Full-time Paid Help
According to the judge, Stone’s lack of prioritizing Roan mean’t that she wasn’t around for him all that much. “Because [Stone] spent a great deal of time away due to the demands of her career, her day-to-day involvement with Roan was limited,” the court document stated.
Apparently, the evidence suggested that Stone passed the buck when it came to her parenting responsibilities, assigning duties to staff or childcare providers. The document stated: “Much of Roan’s care was delegated to a series of full-time [24-hour] nannies.”
Despite Stone’s Desire To Change Roan’s School, the Judge Deemed Her To Have Had “Little Involvement in Roan’s Education”
It didn’t stop there. Judge Anne-Christine Massull also believed that Stone was barely present in her son’s education, despite trying to move Roan to a school near where she lived in South California. The court document stated that Stone has had “little involvement in Roan’s education at Martin Primary.” He had been exhibiting learning difficulties, which the judge thought had been aggravated by Stone’s overreactive parenting.
Martin Primary was a school that Roan had attended while he lived with Stone and Bronstein in San Francisco before the divorce. The document continued: “She [Stone] is only marginally involved in his extracurricular activities and has involved herself very little in co-ordinating efforts to get Roan the help he needs.”
The Court Believed That Stone Couldn’t Provide the “Structure, Continuity and Reliability” That Roan Needed
The court tried to keep a balanced opinion of Stone, writing that it understands that Stone has a demanding career that requires time away from Roan. But the judge still didn’t believe that Stone could provide for Roan in the way that he needed.
The court document stated: “While this court in no way faults [Stone] for having to travel for her career, she is unavailable for Roan on a constant basis.” They added that Stone was “unable to provide the structure, continuity and reliability that Roan needs, and candidly, deserves.”
For Parent Evenings and Doctor’s Appointments, Stone Repeatedly Failed To Turn Up and Gave All Kinds of Excuses
According to the court, Stone didn’t even manage to make it to Roan’s school for parenting evenings. Apparently, it wasn’t just one parent evening that Stone missed, but several, as she repeatedly failed to turn up for him for all kinds of reasons. It certainly sounded as though Stone was full of excuses.
The court also highlighted another instance of Stone’s controversial parenting when it came to Roan’s health. On one occasion Stone failed to make it to a critical meeting with Roan’s doctor and instead asked for the meeting to be videotaped so that “she could review it later.” It was stated that she couldn’t attend “due to a scheduling conflict.”
The Judge Ruled That Bronstein Will Have Permanent Sole Custody of Roan As Stone “Failed To Meet Her Burden of Proof”
Unsurprisingly, the court finally decided in 2008 that Roan should live with his dad and continue to go to school in North California. They stated: “The court does not find that (a) move away is in child’s best interest,” adding that Bronstein “can provide a more structured continuity, stable, secure, and consistent home that child, Roan, needs. (Bronstein) shall have permanent sole physical custody of child.”
The document also stated that, “Court finds that Respondent (Sharon Stone) failed to meet her burden of proof and denies Respondent’s (Sharon Stone’s) request for modification of custody. The judge also notes this order is permanent unless there is a change of circumstances.”
The Court Ruled That Stone’s Phone Number Would Be Put Into Roan’s Phone and the Actress Would Be Given Visitation Rights
Stone wasn’t being cut out of Roan’s life completely, and the court stated that if her lifestyle should change to serve Roan better, the circumstances could change. She was also given visitation rights to roan, and it was ruled that her phone number should be written into both Roan’s mobile phone and the home phone.
Stone’s lawyer Marty Singer even stated that the actress did still have joint custody of Roan, writing: “But the court felt that, for whatever reason, that she did not meet a burden to move him.” However, the court’s ruling that “(Bronstein) shall have permanent sole physical custody of child,” leaves little room for interpretation.
Stone Admitted to Feeling “Broken” After the Court’s Ruling and Claimed That She Would Cry for Days at a Time
Stone was heartbroken over the court’s decision. At the time she stated: “I had a brain hemorrhage and was an actress who had made sexy movies… I would go to these events where I had to get on stage with people looking at me, my head on the floor, praying: ‘God, please help me. I know I have to go out there and raise money. But I’ve lost my child, I’ve lost my health, I’ve lost everything.’ I was just broken.”
Years later, she would speak about this challenging period of her life again, recalling how “I couldn’t focus on anything but having my son back in my arms. Nothing else mattered, just getting him back.” According to Stone, she found it impossible to move on: “After I lost primary custody of Roan, I couldn’t function. I just lay on the couch. I was so damn tired. I would cry.”
Stone Signed a Confidentiality Agreement After Losing the Custody Battle
Before Stone and Bronstein married in 1998, he asked her to sign “a particular type of confidentiality agreement”. Bronstein was a journalist who seemingly wanted to protect how much the public knew about him, and when Stone was asked about it she told the person interviewing her that “I would just say that you’re a very smart guy, you’re a journalist, and if you want to know anything on that subject, I’m sure you can find that out all by yourself.”
After the court’s custody ruling, Stone was asked to sign another confidentiality agreement by Bronstein and his lawyers. Like with the first confidentiality agreement, Stone was unable to talk about the details of what went down in court with anyone, including the media. Whatever injustices that Stone might have felt occurred in court that led to the ruling, she wouldn’t have been able to tell the world.
Stone Adopts a Second Child Born To “Unknown and Unrelated Parents in Texas”
By the time Stone lost the custody case, she had already adopted her second child. In May 2005, her publicist confirmed that the actress had a baby boy born to ”unknown and unrelated parents in Texas,” and he was named Laird Vonne Stone. Stone was 47 years old at the time and fighting for custody of her first son Roan.
It had only been a couple of years since her split from Bronstein, but she wasn’t prepared to wait around to build the family she always wanted. Her publicist confirmed at the time that she was “over the moon” with her newest addition, and it wasn’t long before she chose to adopt once more.
Stone Adopted a Third Son a Year After Welcoming Her Second Son
The following year, there were reports that Stone had adopted a third child, another baby boy. In June 2006 it was reported that she had welcomed a newborn named Quinn to her growing family. She was still in the midst of her custody battle, but she certainly had her hands full at home with two little ones.
This time, the public didn’t hear from Stone’s publicist – it seemed as though Stone was becoming ever more private about her family life. Over the years, the actress would also rarely post photos of her sons, and the public would occasionally see paparazzi photos of her out with her boys.
It Took Stone 13 Years Until Roan Would Come and Live With Her Again
Roan would continue to be in his father’s custody for the next few years, but Stone wasn’t happy about it. She didn’t stop fighting to win back rights to her son for several years, and only after 13 years had passed did Roan eventually come to live with Stone and his brothers Laird and Quinn.
“I fought for my son, put him ahead of getting anything at all back in my life. 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 later revealed. “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.”
Stone Raised Her Boys In the Same House She Used To Share With Bronstein
It wasn’t until Stone’s boys were much older that she started to share more details about her home life. “I live in the same house I’ve had for 25 years, and I feel happy waking up in my house with my kids,” she revealed to People magazine in 2018. That means that she chose to raise her kids in the same home she had when she was married to Bronstein.
Sont continued: “They’re at a wonderful age when we don’t have to have a nanny living with us anymore. I can wake up on a Saturday and I come downstairs, and they’re playing and we hang out. We swim, play basketball, we watch movies. We have such a lovely family dynamic.”
Stone Reveals That It Took Losing Everything To Find Herself
After years of keeping her personal life very private, she found herself more able to talk about the challenges she had experienced over the years. She told People magazine that she had to grow a lot over the years following her brain aneurysm, the custody battle, the divorce, and even her Hollywood career.
“It takes work and time and years and effort,” she explained, adding, “I was ashamed that it took something so big. I was really ashamed of myself. I lost everything—my marriage, my career, my kids, everything.” She also stated that her illness gave her “gratitude for the simple things—for being able to see, for being able to talk, for being able to walk”.
Martin Mica Seemed as Though He Was Becoming a Father Figure For a Period of Time
For a while, it seemed as though Stone had found a father figure for her boys. She dated Argentinian model Martin Mica for several months from 2012 to 2013, and the two were frequently pictured out together. He was also seen spending quality family time with Stone and her three sons.
In early 2013 it was reported that the couple had split up, reportedly due to a lack of common interests. Stone was 54 years old at the time while Mica was 27, and many suspected that the difference in age had been a large factor in their decision to break up. Either way, Stone stayed shtum on the matter.
Stone Was Absolutely Smitten While Dating Fellow Actor David Deluise
Between 2014 and 2015, Stone was seen several times with a fellow actor, David Deluise. Deluise had starred as Coop in the animated series Megas XLR and Jerry Russo in the fantasy teen sitcom Wizards of Waverly Place, as well directed a number of television productions.
While the paparazzi didn’t capture the couple hanging out with Stone’s three sons, photographers did see the pair looking absolutely smitten with one another for several months. Deluise, who was several years Stone’s junior, and Stone appeared to break up in 2016 without either releasing any sort of statement.
Most Recently, She’s Been Spotted Snuggling Up to Real Estate Mogul Angelo Boffa, 41
Most recently, Stone has been spotted seeing somebody new. In 2018, the actress was seen spending a lot of time with an Italian real estate mogul called Angelo Boffa. Boffa was reported as being 41 years old at the time, and Stone had only recently turned 60. Not long before Boffa entered her life, she gave an interview to Grazia magazine in which she spoke about her love life.
“I was just not that girl who was told that a man would define me,” Stone explained. “I was told that if I wanted to have a man in my life, it wouldn’t be an arrangement, it would be an actual partnership. And those are hard to find.” After a few months, Stone was pictured with a ring on her finger, leading many to assume she was engaged to Boffa. But a wedding never came around.
Stone Explains That She’s Accepting Her Life as a Single Parent
Later in 2018, Stone spoke about accepting her life as a single parent in an interview with People magazine. “When you decide to take on this big adventure of being a single parent, you don’t know what it’s going to be like,” she revealed. “You think, how am I ever going to do this all? It’s just a lot. Even with the help that we’re so blessed to be able to have, your hair’s still going down the drain in the shower. It’s just a lot.”
Stone, who was seemingly single once more, had stopped looking for a father figure for her kids. “Now, I sit down and tell them, this is where I have to teach you how to be a gentleman and a man and we’re going to figure that out together. There were times that we thought maybe there would be someone else to help with that, but there isn’t. So that’s what we’re doing now.”
Stone Sits With Her Kids At Night and Lists All Their “Terrific” Attributes
Now, Stone says she understands the value of being confident and wants her three boys to feel more empowered in themselves than she did for most of her life. “When I look back on my career, I think that I had no idea that I was beautiful. I didn’t know. I had no idea. I thought there was always so many things wrong with me and I couldn’t get over all the things that were wrong with me and I couldn’t get past that I wasn’t enough.”
Stone explained that she believes people “lose some of the most beautiful moments of your life” in thinking that they’re not enough, and has vowed to teach her kids that they definitely are: “I sit down on the edge of their bed and I tell them all these millions of things that I think are just terrific about them.”
