Sharon Stone: Getting Stoned

Q: What do your parents think of Phil?

A: His parents are more like what you'd think my parents would be like--his mom's an actress, his father was a ballet dancer, they're very artistic, eccentric and wild. And my parents are more what you'd think Phil's would be like--they're more solid. My parents live in Pennsylvania in what used to be my dad's hunting cabin but they expanded it into a big house in the woods. We just visited them. I think Phil died and went to heaven when we got up there. I don't know how Phil consumed the amount of food my mother made. He was on his seventh serving of potatoes and I said, "That's probably enough," and my father took me aside and said, "If Phil wants potatoes, you have to let him have potatoes." That's my marital advice.

Q: Joan Crawford said that actresses shouldn't marry.

A: You have to imagine how different things were then. Their lives were run by the studio.

Q: How much luck is involved in a good marriage?

A: Some, but it's about whether or not you've got the commitment and the courage to do it. My parents have been married for 49 years. They have a relationship, not an arrangement. They hang out, joke, laugh and overtly, every day, love each other. Very few people do that.

Q: Do you think married sex improves over the years?

A: Married, loving sex? I don't care how much you might be in love with someone, there is nothing like married, loving sex. There is no way to tell somebody who hasn't had that experience what it does to the way you look at the world.

Q: Is there more temptation out there for someone like yourself than there is for most people?

A: Oh, that's never been my thing. I have a monogamous gene.

Q: Are you pregnant, as many tabloids have reported?

A: No, but I'd be delighted to be at any time.

Q: Have you looked into why you haven't gotten pregnant?

A: Yes, I've looked into it. There is no reason.

Q: What about adopting?

A: Oh God, yes! However many children we make, we will also adopt children. I know a terrific adoption agency.

Q: Six months ago the tabloids said you were splitting with your husband. Why would they print that?

A: Someone we knew was making up those stories.

Q: Has your husband's profession given you new insight into journalism?

A: His impression of the media and their reaction to celebrities has changed more than mine. Because he's never been on the other side of it before. The last time he was in New York he walked down the street and people started screaming, "It's Sharon Stone's husband!" He said it was the most horrifying, hideous experience.

Q: Are you happier in San Francisco than in L.A.?

A: Yes. The intellectual root, the drive of San Francisco, is much more diverse. It's nice to be in an environment where people care about other things besides the movie industry. I've worked all over the world and this is the most loving town I've ever been in. People are kind to each other here, they're generous. There's dignity in being generous and decent.

Q: Have you made girlfriends?

A: I'm able to make girlfriends. I met a girl from my neighborhood in a restaurant and my God, it's so great--I now just stop by her house and she makes me a cup of tea and we shoot the breeze.

Q: Are you hassled at all in San Francisco?

A: I never, never, never have people hound me for autographs or chase me for pictures or be mean to me because I don't want to kiss their baby. Unless it's a tourist.

Q: If you'd stayed in L.A., would it have driven you insane?

A: I certainly think it was not going to be possible for me to successfully date or to find a relationship or get married in that town.

Q: You've become somewhat of a public figure in San Francisco and are involved with a public-awareness program and a church.

A: Yeah, my friend and I both got voted Woman of the Year up here for our breast cancer-awareness stuff. We're writing a poem for our acceptance speech. She's a well-known published poet and I'm a goofball. So her part is deep, and mine is like: boobs, tits, cantaloupes, watermelons, ta-tas.

Q: Who's got the most beautiful breasts you've ever seen?

A: [Pulls out her top, looks down at her own, laughs] I'm very happy with my own.

Q: And the church, what denomination is it?

A: I think it's probably called Methodist, but it's completely nondenominational. I'd been trying to find a church to go to in L.A. but they would always sell me out for the PR. There would end up being these fucking Globe reporters in the parking lot, who would then chase me into the church. It should be illegal.

Q: Have you always been religious?

A: I've always been very interested in religion. My parents were Protestants. When I was 10 I decided I wanted to go to a Baptist church, so I went separate from them. And I went to a Baptist school. I've studied a myriad of religious philosophies, even Scientology. Ultimately I've come to the conclusion that I'm a Taoist Buddhist who believes in God.

Q: You've said that your will is what made you famous. How willful are you?

A: I don't think it's my will that's kept me famous. I think that I learned my craft and love my job and respect that I work for the public. That's probably kept me famous.

Q: How would you describe yourself?

A: I wouldn't, I'm so sick of me.

Q: How ambitious are you?

A: More than ambitious, I would say that I'm unsatisfied. I'm one of those people who always wants to do a little better, achieve a little more. Is that ambition? Maybe.

Q: Is it hard to be a sex symbol?

A: [Pretending to take airs] Well, for me it just came naturally. Everybody has their thing. It's figuring out what's your thing. I certainly never thought that was going to be my thing, but it's funny to me that it is, and that it happened to me later in my life. If I was 22 instead of 32 it wouldn't have been that funny--it would have been a nightmare and I'd probably be dead.

Q: When have you contemplated death the most?

A: When I had a stalker who threatened my life.

Q: Have you ever pulled a gun on anyone?

A: Yeah, in my L.A. house. I had a circumstance where I had a guy outside the gate and I could see him on the security camera. He was cutting a hole in the gate. I called 911 and no one came. I called 911 again 10 minutes later and still no one came. Then he started to climb the gate. I called 911 a third time, and said, "This muthafucker's on the gate." They were not particularly helpful. So I decided that I didn't want him to get on the property, because if he did, then I would have to shoot him and I didn't want to have to shoot him. So I opened the front door and hit the button that opened the gate so it would swing with him on it. As it swung open I pumped my shotgun and said, "I'm gonna blow your ass all over the street." And I heard him land when he jumped and his footsteps running off.

Q: Now that you've given up your guns to the L.A. Police Department in the wake of the Columbine shootings, you can't chase someone hanging on your fence as easily.

A: I'm not sure confronting a psycho going over your fence is the smartest thing to do anyway. Now I'd rather lock myself in the house than have guns in my life. I still carry a short Louisville slugger bat and a taser in my car. The taser is a great thing. You only use it if someone is in contact distance--it knocks them down and provides you space to get away. But I'll tell you something, when I had my guns, I would hear noises in my house and I'd be afraid. Since I gave my guns away, I've been sleeping like a baby.

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