Sharon Stone, 64, looks back on her first Oscars in 1992.
When the then-35-year-old was asked to present, her breakout film Basic Instinct had yet to be released.
In fact, the film, which affected her custody battle, hit theaters just days before the March 20, 1992 broadcast. Because she was unknown, no designer would lend her a dress.
“All these people with their $40,000 or $50,000 dresses and I went and bought a Betsey Johnson polyester jumpsuit, because it was the best thing I could do,” she told iHeart Media. Table for two with Bruce Bozzi Tuesday podcast.
“I’m doing my hair and makeup and I was like, ‘Wow, this is horrible. Like, how am I going to do this, right?'” she shared.
First Oscars: Sharon Stone’s first Oscars had her buying an out-of-the-box Betsey Johnson dress as no designer would lend her a dress as she was still an unknown
Hair and makeup: The Basic Instinct star also did her hair and makeup at the 1992 Oscars.
And it was at those Oscars that he realized that people were watching, and liking, his film.
She was sitting near the stage and received rave reviews from her fellow actors, including Anthony Hopkins.
“When I passed, he put his hands together and put them on his head like a champ and showed them to me as I walked past him. I was like, “Oh my gosh, he saw my movie,” the Casino star said.
Fortunately, her career took off in a big way after Basic Instinct and by the Oscars the following year, designers were clamoring to dress and do her hair.
Her sexy role in Basic Instinct brought fame, work and wealth into her life, but it also made her son Roan’s custody battle more difficult.
Sharon’s role in the racy 1992 film was part of the reason she lost custody of her son Roan, now 22, whom she adopted with her ex Phil Bronstein.
On the same episode of the Table for Two podcast, the Sliver actress said: ‘I lost custody of my son. When the judge asked my son, my little, little boy, “Do you know that your mother makes sex movies?”
She alleged that it was “sort of abuse by the system”, noting that her role in the film made them question what she was like as a mother.
Second Oscar: At the 1993 Oscars, she went all-out glam in an embroidered gold gown.
She dressed herself again: With her father Joe while wearing a Gap T-shirt in 1996
This outfit rocked the world: with Phil Bronstein at the Oscars in a shirt and skirt in 1998
She added: “I was considered what kind of father I was, because I did that movie.”
In Basic Instinct, Sharon plays a calculating killer and Michael Douglas is the homicide detective who becomes obsessed with her.
But she said: “People are walking around without clothes on regular TV now and you saw maybe a sixteenth of a second of my potential nudity and I lost custody of my son.”
Sharon noted that the situation affected her physical and mental health.
She explained: ‘I ended up at the Mayo Clinic with extra heartbeats in the upper and lower chambers of my heart… It broke my heart. It literally broke my heart.
She has opened up about the custody battle in the past, although she did not reveal the reason she lost custody at the time due to a confidentiality agreement and out of “respect” for her son.
Sharon was married to Roan’s father, Phil Bronstein, now 70, from 1998 to 2004.
Stone wanted a family with Phil, but was having trouble conceiving. The star suffered three miscarriages before the couple adopted Roan in 2000.
2011 Oscars: The Total Recall actress wore a gorgeous black dress in 2011