Sharon Stone’s Wildest Hollywood Story (And It’s 100% True)

Using only sticks and stones, our prehistoric ancestors have been battling monsters since the dawn of humankind — and actress Sharon Stone, the once (and future?) star of Basic Instinct, has been fighting off her own monsters her entire life. Sometimes they’re executives and producers, and sometimes they’re extra-large lizards with a taste for toes.

Today: the strange, true Hollywood fable of the time Sharon Stone’s then-husband tangled with a Komodo dragon at the Los Angeles Zoo — and lived to tell the tale.

Our scene opens on Saturday, June 9, 2001. As an early Father’s Day surprise, Sharon Stone arranged a behind-the-scenes encounter with a Komodo dragon for her husband, Phil Bronstein, then the executive editor of the San Francisco Chronicle. This Hollywood It Couple was invited into the enclosure — a rare VIP moment that sounds glamorous until you remember we’re talking about an apex predator that hunts wild boar and, well, freaking water buffalo.

This was a very special gift for Phil. He was fascinated by these animals. As Stone would later tell Time magazine, they did it “because it’s the closest to a prehistoric creature that we can still see, and it gives us a sense of that kind of history, which is very intriguing.”

At first, it was a dream: a safari of untamed beauty and prehistoric wonder. A day of simple family fun and educational thrills. Then, turning a corner, Phil entered the dragon’s domain. The zookeeper — mild-mannered, like a grandfather from a cozy sitcom — assured them it was safe: “Everybody goes in, kids even pet him,” he said. “Just remove those white sneakers so the dragon won’t mistake them for white rats — his favorite food.”

So, barefoot into the devil’s lair he went. What could go wrong?

Inside the enclosure, the dream came to life. Phil Bronstein was face-to-face with a dinosaur. The man and the beast shared a brief moment, locking eyes — a connection that could almost be called spiritual. But then, the seven-foot beast suddenly lunged and clamped onto Bronstein’s bare left foot, crushing his big toe and severing tendons. His wife, Sharon, watched from outside the cage, panicking helplessly.

Her voice cut through: “Help — somebody, help!” The dragon bucked and pounded, trying to drag her husband into the shadows. An unshakable, ancient fear was unleashed. Chaos! Blood! Hunger! Madness! It was a very bad day at the zoo. Poor Sharon — her knight in shining armor (at the time) had met his match. Well, his toe had.

But what about Mr. Phil? He was calm beyond reason. Channeling his inner Neanderthal, he pressed his shoeless heel down and pinned the creature by the neck. The dragon thrashed, twisting and ripping at his flesh. Tendons, joints — shredded. Blood spattered like the zoo had hung up an all-red Jackson Pollock.

And watching, pressed against the glass, was the audience to this macabre show: wide-eyed children. The poor youngsters witnessed a kind of horror only nature can produce. The dragon’s grip lasted mere seconds — but they were enough to turn a Father’s Day surprise into a full-on R-rated monster movie, worthy of Paul Verhoeven himself.

The nightmare ended when that lovable zookeeper grabbed the Komodo dragon by the neck and yelled, “Let Sharon Stone’s husband and editor of the San Francisco Chronicle go!” And, miraculously, the beast obeyed.

Bronstein was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, where surgeons reattached severed tendons and rebuilt his crushed big toe. There were whispers of venom, bacteria, and sheer luck. But the image stayed burned in Sharon’s mind: prehistoric hunger, red jaws, and the chilling realization that Hollywood monsters had nothing on the real thing. Her husband was released a few days later. The zoo reevaluated its backstage tours — though rumor has it the “petting zoo of death” continued for a while after.

And much like the hungry reptile, the tabloids feasted. The story became stranger-than-fiction gossip — Letterman joked, Leno laughed. But for Sharon, the echo remained: bloody teeth, torn flesh, cold reptile breath, and the humbling terror of realizing you are prey.

My favorite headline came from The Guardian, which quoted Stone as saying, “A Komodo dragon ate my husband.” Once again, Sharon Stone was the talk of the town. But this time, her co-star wasn’t that guy from Jurassic Park — it was a real-life, vicious, venomous dinosaur.

In truth, Mr. Sharon Stone was lucky. These giant lizards can swallow huge chunks of prey — they can take down a goat in one gulp — thus making Komodo dragons the true G.O.A.T.s of goat swallowing.

Let us observe the beautiful creature: the Komodo dragon. An ancient intelligence behind those eyes. It knows no celebrity, no screen credits. It knows hunger and survival.

Now let us observe another beautiful creature: Sharon Stone. A classic intelligence behind those eyes. All she knows is celebrity. Her screen credit? Oscar nominee Sharon Stone. She knows glamour and survival. She’s been dodging cinematic predators since being tricked into crossing her legs — and crossing cultural lines. Whether it’s studio sharks or literal dragons, one lesson endures: Hollywood is a wild, dangerous habitat.

Sharon and Phil would divorce a few years later. He remarried, remains active in journalism, has ties to Kamala Harris, and I’m pretty sure his toe made a full recovery. I do wonder if dragons still visit him in nightmares.

Ms. Stone has continued to work in film — even giving us Basic Instinct 2 for some reason. In that same “Year of the Dragon,” Sharon had a health scare of her own when she was hospitalized with a hemorrhage. She overcame that too. This talented actress has endured her share of personal struggles, Tinseltown trauma, and triumphs on screen. But for a time, when anyone mentioned the name Sharon Stone… I’d think first of the Komodo dragon incident. Then Halle Berry in The Flintstones. Then Casino. But now? Nobody 2. Watch it today!

This story is equal parts cautionary tale and cosmic joke: access has limits, shoes are good, and whoever’s at the top of the food chain writes the final act. You ever see that documentary Grizzly Man? Just remember everything Herzog said about bears — and apply it to Komodo dragons. This isn’t some DreamWorks adventure. These dragons are real and were never meant to be trained.

In 2018, via her Twitter, Ms. Stone revealed she still suffers from lizard-phobia. The Hollywood starlet was understandably shaken when what she thought was a Komodo dragon was spotted roaming her Beverly Hills neighborhood. Had the creature returned to finish its snack? Some kind of twisted animal revenge — a real-life Jawssequel? No. It was just Stephen, a monitor lizard belonging to her neighbor that had gotten loose. And yes, his name was Stephen. Because of Stephen, the reptilian nightmare lives on for Sharon Stone.

Some say this particular animal attack played out like a perfect Hollywood parable: a VIP pass past the velvet rope, an A-list cameo in a reptilian biopic, and a warning about the dangers our ancestors tried to pass down. But celebrity often blinds us to our mortality — and to the boundaries set by Mother Nature, God, or at least a zoo with better safety protocols. Then came the ultimate Hollywood twist: nature doesn’t care about your IMDb. Komodo dragons don’t go to the movies; they enforce their own release dates — with venomous teeth.

A mighty monstrous lizard and the flesh of a celebrity: a perfect fit. After all, rumor has it that town is run by reptilian creatures. Thus, this true-life creature feature could only be made deep in the wildest jungles of Hollywood — or “Hollyweird,” if people still say that.

But please — don’t blame this misunderstood monster, who’s still alive and well at the L.A. Zoo. For Komo the Komodo is innocent in this so-called celebrity assassination attempt. (Yes, its name was Komo.) We, as humans of Earth, must remember: poor, innocent Komo was just following his basic instincts.

BTW- if you want more strange Hollywood stories, we’ve got you covered.