Sharon Stone says one conversation during a breast cancer scare told her that her marriage was over.
The Basic Instinct and Casino star spoke about the experience on David Begnaud’s podcast The Person Who Believed in Me. Entertainment Weekly reported that Stone said doctors found breast tumors in the early 2000s, including one she described as larger than her entire left breast.
According to Stone, doctors believed the tumors could be cancerous and recommended a bilateral mastectomy because of how serious the situation appeared.
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Stone Said Her Husband Called the Decision “Ridiculous”
Stone said she believed she did not have cancer, but she also did not want to gamble with her life.
She recalled deciding to move forward after doctors warned her how serious the tumors looked.
“I am deciding that I will have a bilateral because I’m not f—ing around,” Stone said, according to Entertainment Weekly.
Stone said her husband reacted by calling the decision “ridiculous” and leaving the room. When Begnaud asked what part he thought was ridiculous, Stone said he was angry about the idea of her having a bilateral mastectomy.
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She Said the Doctor Defended Her Decision
Stone said the doctor pushed back on her husband’s reaction.
According to Entertainment Weekly, Stone remembered the doctor telling him that more women would be alive if he had more patients like her.
Stone said she then told her husband, “I make the decisions, not you.”
She described the exchange as the end of the marriage. Stone said she could tell in that room that the relationship was over because he thought she was foolish and “making too many decisions” herself.
Stone Later Learned the Tumors Were Benign
InStyle reported that Stone said surgeons opened her up and removed tissue from both breasts before she woke up to learn she did not have cancer.
Entertainment Weekly also noted that Stone did not ultimately undergo a double mastectomy because the tumors were benign.
The scare was still invasive and frightening. Stone went into surgery after being told the tumors looked serious enough that doctors expected cancer. She woke up to several people around her bed telling her the tumors were not cancerous.
Her Memoir Described Another Violation After Surgery
Stone has spoken before about what happened after doctors removed benign tumors from her breasts.
In her 2021 memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, Stone said a surgeon gave her larger breast implants without her knowledge or consent during reconstructive surgery.
People reported that Stone wrote about waking up to a chest size she had not agreed to. Stone said the surgeon told her the larger size went better with her hip size.
Stone wrote that he had changed her body without her knowledge or consent.
The Podcast Put the Marriage Moment Back in Focus
Stone did not describe the surgery argument as a normal disagreement between spouses.
She framed it as the moment she understood that her then-husband did not trust her to make the decision about her own body during a medical crisis.
The breast tumors were later found to be benign, but Stone’s memory of that room has stayed sharp. She was facing a possible cancer diagnosis, doctors were urging her to take the threat seriously, and her husband’s reaction told her the marriage had reached its breaking point.