ALISON BOSHOFF: Sharon Stone shows her maternal instinct as she 'adopts' son ... trends now
Sharon Stone (pictured) has adopted a fourth child — the best friend of one of her three previously adopted sons
Sharon Stone has adopted a fourth child — the best friend of one of her three previously adopted sons.
Stone, 64, who lives with her family in a sprawling house in Beverly Hills, took in the friend of her oldest boy, Roan, 22, after his father died.
A friend tells me: 'This happened around a year ago and she has kept it pretty quiet. The kid is inseparable from her son Roan and they all live together as a family now, in her big place.
'It's a really amazing thing to do and it says everything about her. She had a pretty difficult childhood and she wanted to create a family — in the way she would like a family to be.
'It's great for Roan because they are best friends and she loves to have a big family around her.
'She says that he is her "adopted son" — that's the way she describes him and that's her commitment, although I am not sure whether steps have been taken to formalise it legally yet.'
The news emerged after Stone told a film festival: 'My oldest boy's very best friend, from when he was little, had a single parent — who had Parkinson's — and who he took care of for 12 years, until his father died during Covid. And so he was suddenly alone . . . and I took him in. So now I have four boys.'
Roan was adopted in 2000 during Stone's marriage to newspaperman Phil Bronstein. The actress has said that she suffers from autoimmune disease and endometriosis, which had made it impossible for her to have children.
Roan (pictured with Sharon Stone last year) was adopted in 2000 during Stone's marriage to newspaperman Phil Bronstein
Stone, 64, who lives with her family in a sprawling house in Beverly Hills, already had three adopted sons Quinn, Roan and Laird (pictured together in 2017)
In a recent social media post she revealed: 'I lost nine children by miscarriage.
'It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally, yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly, with some kind of sense of failure, instead of receiving the much-needed compassion and empathy and healing which we so need.'
She and Bronstein split in 2003 and initially he had custody of Roan. But he now lives with his mother full-time, and goes by the name Roan Bronstein Stone. He is currently forging a career as a chef and is at culinary school.
Her other sons Laird and Quinn — who are brothers — were adopted in 2005 and 2006.
According to his mother, Laird wants to be a heart surgeon, and took a course at Oxford over the summer.
Illusionist sells his creepy collection
Derren Brown (pictured) has put a large collection of taxidermy up for auction on Monday
He's made his name with unsettling and unusual television shows, featuring everything from Russian roulette to a séance. So it seems fitting that when Derren Brown has a de-clutter, the results are out of the ordinary, too.
The illusionist and showman has put a large collection of taxidermy up for auction on Monday, because he is moving house. Among the items that must go are stuffed monkeys and puppies, a two-headed calf (listed as a 'genuine deformity') and a baby giraffe.
There is also an 'arachnid lamb' with eight legs, a rare French mouse gambling tableau, a pig floating on a balloon, a hanging opossum and an albino wallaby.
Brown has spoken in interviews about his passion for taxidermy, which began when he was a student. 'I collect ethically sourced stuffed pets and animals that have died in zoos.'
Over the years he has amassed around 200 items, and every other Sunday goes around the house with a leaf blower, because 'it's the only way to get the dust off and stop the moths'.
Among the items that must go are stuffed monkeys and puppies, a two-headed calf (listed as a 'genuine deformity') and an 'arachnid lamb' (pictured)
Not long ago, he recalled, he got a text 'from a guy called Dave'. 'He said: "I've got a kiwi, are you interested?" He pulled up and he did, in fact, have a kiwi in the back of his van. But I am really trying to cut down.'
Last year he moved to the countryside from his house in London, with his partner Justin, and admitted he was starting to find the collection a little disturbing. 'We didn't have any proper lighting until recently, so you'd be walking past all these dead animals in the dark, which made for quite a creepy environment.'
Friends say he is moving again, hence the sale, which will take place at Wimbledon Auctions.
Matthew and Keeley together again
ITVX's three-part drama Stonehouse will be the first time that Matthew Macfayden and his wife Keeley Hawes (pictured) have appeared on screen together since 2002
Matthew Macfayden says his performance as disgraced politician John Stonehouse owes more than a little to his multi-award winning turn as Tom Wambsgans in Succession.
'There was definitely some cross-pollination and mining of Tom going on when it came to playing Stonehouse,' says Matthew, a BAFTA and Emmy winner for playing Tom, the worm that turns, in Succession.
'Both characters like being near power — and both are grotesques.'
Macfadyen plays the lead in ITVX's three-part drama Stonehouse, the extraordinary story of the Labour MP who faked his own death in 1974.
'It remains to be seen how effective my portrayal will be — I just jump in and hope for the best!' he joked.
His real-life wife, Keeley Hawes, plays the politician's wife Barbara in the drama, which debuts on ITVX in
