As a child, both Sharon Stone and her sister, Kelly, were sexually abused by their grandfather, but it wasn’t until a therapy session many years later that Sharon remembered the abuse had occurred, per The New Yorker. “I came to understand that my abuse started really, really young. … I just started screaming, ‘Who does that?,’ because I had had such a mental block that someone could abuse such a young child,” she told the outlet, adding that her grandfather frequently threatened to kill her to stop her from telling anyone.
In her memoir, “The Beauty of Living Twice,” Stone revealed her grandfather died when she was 14. Upon seeing his corpse at the funeral, she admitted to being glad he was gone, unable to harm her ever again. Moreover, she detailed being forced to visit her grandparents as a child, describing their living situation as squalid, and lamenting how they mistreated their dozen pet cats, much like they mistreated their granddaughters.
Despite having endured horrific abuse together, the sisters didn’t discuss it until they were in their 20s. “Our mother later said she didn’t know about her father’s perverse behavior toward us during our toddler and elementary years. … She hated him,” Sharon wrote, noting that her grandfather had also beaten her grandmother. Speaking with The New York Times, she said both her sister and mom, to whom the memoir is dedicated, had granted her permission to tell the harrowing story.
If you or anyone you know has been a victim of sexual assault, help is available. Visit the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network website or contact RAINN’s National Helpline at 1-800-656-HOPE (4673).
