Actress Sharon Stone has opened up about a deeply personal chapter in her life, revealing that her decision to undergo a bilateral mastectomy after doctors discovered a large breast tumour ultimately led to the breakdown of her marriage.
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Speaking on a recent episode of David Begnaud’s podcast ‘The Person Who Believed in Me’, the actress recalled the frightening period when doctors feared that a massive tumour in her breast was cancerous and advised immediate surgery.
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According to Stone, the tumour was alarmingly large. “One of them was bigger than the size of my entire left breast,” she said, recalling how her doctor came to her home to discuss the seriousness of the situation.ย “The doctor told me, ‘Look, we think you should have a bilateral mastectomy. This is really bad. And when they’re all the way up into here, we usually know before we go in that they’re cancer,'” Stone remembered.ย The ‘Basic Instinct’ star admitted that she initially struggled to come to terms with the possibility that she might have cancer. “I don’t have cancer,” she recalled telling her physician.
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However, the doctor challenged her response. “He said, ‘You don’t get to decide that,'” Stone shared. Despite her fear and uncertainty, she decided to proceed with the surgery. “I said, ‘I do get to decide that. But I am deciding that I will have a bilateral because I’m not fooling around,'” she explained.
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Stone also revealed that her then-husband strongly disagreed with her decision and reacted negatively when she informed him of her choice.ย “My husband said, ‘This is ridiculous,’ and got up and left the room,” she recalled.ย When podcast host David Begnaud asked what exactly her husband found ridiculous, Stone responded that he was angry about her choosing to undergo a bilateral mastectomy.ย “He was furious,” she said.
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Begnaud suggested that her husband seemed more concerned about the removal of her breasts than the possibility that she could have cancer. Stone agreed with that assessment, prompting her doctor to step in.ย According to the actress, the doctor firmly addressed her husband, saying, “If I had more patients like her, we’d have more women alive today. You need to sit down.”
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Stone then made her position clear. “I said, ‘I make the decisions, not you,'” she recalled.ย The actress said that moment effectively marked the end of their relationship.ย “That was the end of the marriage. That was it. He was done with me then. It was over,” Stone said. “You could feel it in the room. It was just over.”ย Reflecting further, she added, “He thought I was ridiculous. He thought it was foolish. He thought I was making too many decisions for myself.”
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Fortunately, after undergoing medical evaluation and treatment, Stone learned that the tumours were ultimately benign and not cancerous.
Although the actress did not identify the former husband during the interview, she was married to journalist and editor Phil Bronstein from 1998 to 2004. The former couple adopted a son, Roan, in 2000. Before that, Stone was married to television producer Michael Greenburg from 1984 to 1990.
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The Oscar-nominated actress later expanded her family by adopting two more sons, Laird and Quinn, and has often spoken publicly about the challenges and triumphs she has experienced throughout her personal and professional life.