Hollywood actor Sharon Stone says lack of sex education led to her teen pregnancy

Hollywood actor Sharon Stone has opened up about her teenage pregnancy, saying she believes the absence of proper sex education contributed to her becoming pregnant when she was young. 

Stone, 68, previously revealed that she had an abortion as a teenager. She has also recalled that she and her boyfriend only realised she was pregnant after he noticed that she had gained weight, while neither of them had been adequately informed about contraception or the possibility of pregnancy.

Sharon Stone recalls lack of sex education

Speaking on Michelle Obama and Craig Robinson’s IMO podcast, Stone described the limited conversation about sex she had with her mother while growing up.

She said, "'Is that man bothering you? Get over here’. That was the whole extent of the conversation (about sex education from her mom). Imagine you’re 17, you’re in college, my boyfriend was 23, an engineer on the railroad, an electrician, which was, in our town, a super-high paying job. He had a fancy car, a fancy motorcycle, his own place, regular employment. Being an electrician on the railroad was top drawer”.

Stone said that despite her boyfriend being older and financially independent, neither of them had sufficient information about contraception.

She went on, "But he didn’t have any knowledge or information that I should have some kind of birth control and I had no (idea). Like when I tell you I could have been the girl who gave birth in the bathroom stall”.

‘No one told me this is how you have your period’

Michelle Obama brought up Stone’s earlier account of discovering her pregnancy after her boyfriend noticed her weight gain.

Stone explained that her family had initially assumed the change was simply a result of her being a college freshman. She said she had not received basic information about menstruation or reproductive health.

The actor said, "Because when I tell you no one… my parents thought it was the freshman 15, no clue. No one told me this is how you have your period, this is what a Tampax does. Look, they didn’t test tampons on human blood until 2026. They tested female hormones on men because it was more consistent. And now we don’t want to give women care, we want to prosecute women for having a miscarriage? What kind of bulls*** is this?".

Stone's comments also moved into a wider discussion about women's healthcare and reproductive care.

Sharon Stone and Michelle Obama joke about pregnancy

The conversation later took a humorous turn when Stone and Obama imagined how society might look if men were able to become pregnant.

Stone joked, “If men could get pregnant, you could get an abortion from a vending machine”.

Obama responded, "There would be the birth-Olympics. Men would film themselves going into labour, and honouring their pain, you know? There would be trophies given. 'Well done, dude! Bob, you did that without an epidural’”.

Stone then added, "Maternity leave would be when you got the bonus”.

The discussion combined Stone’s personal experience with a broader conversation about sex education, contraception and the differences she believes exist in how reproductive healthcare is approached.