Compiled by
Democrat-Gazette staff from wire reports
• Sharon Stone has taken on a new, real-life role -- memoir writer. "I have learned to forgive the unforgivable," says Stone, whose "The Beauty of Living Twice" comes out in March. "My hope is that as I share my journey, you too will learn to do the same." Alfred A. Knopf announced Tuesday that the 62-year-old actor will reflect on everything from her painful childhood in Pennsylvania to such films as the star-making erotic thriller "Basic Instinct" and Martin Scorsese's mobster epic "Casino," for which she received an Academy Award nomination and a Golden Globe award. She'll also write about her two marriages, her near-fatal stroke in 2001, and her humanitarian work on behalf of AIDS research and other causes. "Stone in these pages echoes the Stone who made headlines throughout her career: she is courageous, honest, and outspoken, refusing to pull any punches when discussing aspects of the trauma and violence she endured as a child and how her chosen career as an actress echoed many of those same assaults," Knopf said in a statement. Stone's other movies include Albert Brooks' "The Muse," Jim Jarmusch's "Broken Flowers," and "The Laundromat," a Steven Soderbergh film released in 2019.
• Ghislaine Maxwell, facing sex-trafficking charges of underage girls tied to her former boyfriend Jeffrey Epstein, said she's being held under "onerous" conditions at a federal jail, including weeks of extra scrutiny under suicide watch. Maxwell is asking to be moved out of solitary confinement in a Brooklyn, N.Y., lockup and into the jail's general population so she can prepare for trial. She was recently taken off suicide watch, according to her lawyer. "Ms. Maxwell is being treated worse than other similarly situated pretrial detainees, which significantly impacts her ability to prepare a defense," attorney Christian Everdell said in a letter Monday. Everdell said Maxwell has been confined alone for the entire 36-day period she has been at the jail since she arrived there July 6 and has been "surveilled 24 hours a day" by security cameras and prison guards. "These prison guards constantly observe Ms. Maxwell and take notes on her every activity, including her phone conversations with defense counsel." Maxwell is also awakened every few hours each night and "forced to wear special clothing," according to the letter. Maxwell's cell is searched multiple times a day and she has been forced to undergo numerous body scans, Everdell wrote. Epstein was found dead in his Manhattan jail cell last August in what was later ruled a suicide. He had earlier been placed on a suicide watch but was subsequently removed, and was supposed to be closely monitored by jail guards. Everdell said Maxwell is being mistreated "as a result of what occurred" with Epstein.