ALISON BOSHOFF: Sharon Stone shows her maternal instinct as she ‘adopts’ son number four

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 January.

This will be the first time the couple have appeared on screen together since 2002, when they were co-stars in Spooks, and fell in love.

Watch out — or rather listen out — for dancer, actor and YouTuber Joe Sugg in animated film The Amazing Maurice. Sugg plays all-singing, all-dancing, moonwalking rat Sardines, who is in a gang with Maurice, the ginger cat of the title. Says Sugg of his character: ‘He’s a charming, old-fashioned, showbiz-inspired rat.’ The film — in cinemas and on Sky from December 16 — is based on the book by Terry Pratchett.

Dame Judi’s close bond with grandson Sam and his mum

Finty Williams— the actress daughter of Dame Judi Dench and her late husband, the actor Michael Williams — describes her relationship with her mother and her son Sam, a TikTok star, as so close that they are ‘like three-way Velcro’.

During lockdown, Sam (25) moved in with Dame Judi (87) and the pair found fans with their TikTok reels, in which they sang, danced and told jokes.

Finty, 50, tells me: ‘It started because my son was isolating with my mother — she needed him and he was happy to move in. They would occasionally rope me in, although I’m not sure I really understand TikTok at all.

‘It wasn’t all rosy — I would have calls from both of them, sometimes simultaneously. I’d get Sam on the mobile saying: ‘You won’t believe what your mother has done!’

‘And she would be on the landline saying: ‘Your son is the most irritating person!’

‘But actually, the relationship that they have is wonderful. We are like Velcro, the three of us — if you can have such a thing as three-way Velcro.’ Finty adds: ‘I am sure every mother says this, but I am so proud of Sam. He is just a really great human being.’

Finty Williams (right)— the actress daughter of Dame Judi Dench (centre) and her late husband, the actor Michael Williams — describes her relationship with her mother and her son Sam (left), a TikTok star, as so close that they are ‘like three-way Velcro’

Her son recently moved out, which she says is ‘natural and right, but I just miss him so terribly . . . I FaceTime him incessantly and he is usually out doing something exciting and grown-up. He is dealing with it much better than me!’

But there will be a festive reunion over the holidays, which will inevitably include a traditional argument about music between mother and daughter. ‘Ma hosts Christmas,’ Finty explains. ‘She comes down at 8am and puts carols on, and then when she leaves the kitchen I’ll change it to Hamilton or Dear Evan Hansen. Then she comes back in and switches to carols.’

Finty stars in a new, touring production of Neil Gaiman’s The Ocean At The End of the Lane, which opens at The Lowry in Salford on Monday. It will then travel to 28 venues across the UK and Ireland.

Romesh Ranganathan has never been busier — and business is booming. His Ranga Bee production company has seen assets soar to £1.6 million, up from £342,000 the previous year.

The company, which is run by Ranganathan, 44, recently made its first show: a sitcom called Avoidance for the BBC.

He said: ‘Obviously it’s great to have your show made by your own production company, but I was conscious that if the food was s*** one day and everyone is moaning about it, it’s very difficult to join in — because you’re partly responsible!’

A Fiennes climber you are!

You might imagine that nothing scares Polar explorer and Everest climber Sir Ranulph Fiennes — but he admits that he quailed at the task of going up a ladder to clear a gutter at his home.

Fiennes, 78, told the Midnight Meets podcast that his wife Louise asked him to clear some leaves from a gutter — admittedly a gutter three storeys up — and he could not do it.

‘Louise said: ‘I’ll hold the ladder Ran!’ And I realised there was no way I was going up that wobbly ladder. I ended up getting Louise to go up, and I held the ladder.’

You might imagine that nothing scares Polar explorer and Everest climber Sir Ranulph Fiennes — but he admits that he quailed at the task of going up a ladder to clear a gutter at his home

It was particularly disappointing as he had previously scaled a 6,000ft sheer face of the Eiger to try to conquer his fear, as you do.

‘In the SAS, parachuting from balloons and so on, you’re meant to keep your eyes open, but I couldn’t do that. But I’d heard there were these two wonderful climbers who would teach you to lose your vertigo.

‘One of them, Kenton Cool, said: ‘I’ll take you to the Alps, and a climb called the Murder Wall of the Eiger.’ ‘

And it worked. Sort of. ‘As long as I could see them, I lost my vertigo,’ Sir Ranulph said. ‘I thought it might have gone.’

How Jamie turned blue for Avatar 2 on the big screen

The world premiere of Avatar: The Way Of Water in London was the biggest event in showbusiness this week — but no one will have recognised the young British actor who is at the heart of the film. Jamie Flatters, 22, was only 16 when he auditioned for director James Cameron to play the role of Neteyam, eldest son of Jake (Sam Worthington) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana).

Jamie Flatters, 22, plays Neteyam (right) in Avatar: The Way Of Water, the eldest son of Jake (Sam Worthington- left) and Neytiri (Zoe Saldana)

He learned to dive and also received coaching in the Na’vi language for the film, which I’ve seen, and which is even better and more absorbing than the first blockbuster released 13 years ago (a good thing, given its running time of 192 minutes). Jamie’s performance was captured by head-mounted cameras and then transferred onto an 8ft tall blue avatar.

The young actor (pictured as Neteyam with Jake) who played Ioan Gruffudd’s son in ITV series Liar, tells me that he’s quite content to be blue and anonymous. ‘You don’t have to take the consequences of Press attention or fame, because I didn’t go into this for the attention, but for the acting,’ he says.

He also has the rare distinction of having been turned into a Lego figure ‘with detachable hair’, for a new playset based on the latest film. Jamie, from South London, spent three years on and off sets and remarks that Los Angeles was ‘the real alien environment that we all needed to deal with’.

ALISON BOSHOFF: Sharon Stone shows her maternal instinct as she ‘adopts’ son number four 
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