Let’s be honest, almost everyone watching this video will be familiar with Sharon Stone’s iconic leg-crossing scene from Basic Instinct. This erotic thriller has become the actress’s most famous movie moment.
However, she has accomplished a lot more in Hollywood than just that. Stone stole the show in an Oscar-nominated performance in Martin Scorsese’s Casino. And she secured an Emmy award for her work on the procedural courtroom drama The Practice.
Yet even though she was such a shining star in the film industry, it nearly all fell apart. Stone revealed how Hollywood chewed her up and spat her out.
Due to some serious health issues in the early 2000s, Stone nearly lost everything she had worked for.
This video will take a look at how Sharon Stone was destroyed by Hollywood.
But Stone is not so easily deterred. Keep watching to see how she battled these struggles and what she has been up to recently. You may have even seen her in some recent film and TV projects.
Without further ado, let’s take a look at Sharon Stone’s career.
She Suffered a Near-Fatal Stroke
Sharon Stone suffered a major health problem. In 2001, in the prime of her career, Stone had a massive stroke.
Last year, in an event for the Women’s Brain Health Initiative, Stone revealed that the stroke resulted in bleeding in the brain that lasted nine days.
Apparently, the actress didn’t get treatment immediately. The bleeding in her brain was going on for three or four days before she went to the hospital. Stone pointed out that patients with similar issues have less than a 1 percent chance to live.
For a full month, it was not clear if Stone was going to survive the surgery. Ultimately, the actress did pull through, but the fallout from the stroke was still developing.
Sharon Stone remembers how she was dropped in the industry. She said in an interview:
“I was like the hottest movie star, you know? It was like Miss Princess Diana and I were so famous – and she died and I had a stroke. And we were forgotten.”
Indeed, Stone kind of fell off the face of the earth as an actress. For the first two years following the incident, she didn’t have any acting credits to her name.
But it wasn’t just as an actress where she suffered. Stone had trouble functioning with day-to-day life. She had to fight to keep custody of her sons, and there was no work of any kind. The actress even had to remortgage her home to stay afloat.
Among her saviors during the struggle was Bernard Arnault the CEO of the designer company LVMH. He hired Stone to advertise for luxury fashion house Dior.
In the end, Stone claimed it took seven years to fully heal from the incident.
But it hasn’t been all bad for the actress. The stroke was not the only thing that has defined her career since 2000. Let’s look at what else Sharon Stone has been working on.
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Stone has Been Back in The Movies
Sharon Stone is back to making a splash in Hollywood. Her many award nominations speak to her versatility as an actress, and she has been showing off her skills in recent years.
In some of her credits in the last two decades, Stone has been back to playing some risqué characters reminiscent of her classic movies.
In 2013, she played the mother of the adult film star Linda Lovelace in the biopic about her life. Another instance was in Woody Allen’s 2014 film Fading Gigolo. Stone plays a lonely Doctor who pays for sex.
Not only do parts like these flex Stones considerable acting skills, but she also claims these are exactly the characters she enjoys playing.
She Has Forged a Career in TV As Well
It’s not just the movies where Sharon Stone makes her mark. She has also carved out some memorable parts on television.
Many A-list actors and actresses see TV as a step down in their careers. Most want to focus on film roles only.
This was also the case for Sharon Stone. She scoffed at some of the jobs she was offered at first. However, after her stroke, she realized that work was not going to be easy to come by.
Stone was offered a guest spot on Law & Order: SVU.
Though she was used to working with the best people in Hollywood such as Joe Pesci and Robert DeNiro, she now found herself in a guest spot on a TV show. It was embarrassing for Stone. Making things worse she had trouble remembering her lines.
This was a sobering incident for her. It felt like rock bottom for Stone. However, instead of throwing in the towel and giving up on the industry, she pushed on.
Stone had an epiphany. She realized her health issues were equivalent to being thrown from a moving train. The only way she was going to make it back was by grinding her way to the top. And if that meant starting out in small guest roles, so be it.
Accordingly, Stone did work her way back. She recently starred on the HBO mystery series Mosaic.
Additionally, she was the executive producer and star of the TNT mystery Agent X where she played the President of the United States.
Most recently, Stone had a role in the popular One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest prequel series Ratched on Netflix.
We look forward to seeing what she has lined up next.
She is A Woman’s Rights Activist
Acting isn’t the only passion for Sharon Stone. She is also an activist for women’s rights.
Stone has been vocal on anything from the gender wage gap to the Me-Too movement.
Her fight against the wage gap began in 1992 after Basic Instinct. She recalls how no studios were willing to pay her after this film. The roles she did take came with a significantly lower price tag than her male co-stars.
In an interview, she did alongside Jane Fonda, and Alfre Woodard, the three stars discussed the pressures that aging has on women in the film industry.
Stone understands how much strength it takes to be a woman in this industry. She also insists she is not giving up the fight anytime soon.
Stone is the Chair for amfAR
Sharon Stone’s activism extends beyond the film industry. She has been the global campaign chair for the American Foundation for Aids Research.
She started the position in 1995 in a three-year capacity. However, she believes the work is so important that she still holds the position 20 years later. One significant instance of her work came in the 2000s. She raised a half-million dollars for the foundation from her Hollywood colleagues at the Venice Film Festival.
Stone has been so impactful to this organization that she won the Peace Summit Award in 2013.
She has also used her celebrity status to help raise money for the foundation. In 2000, Sharon Stone teamed with luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton for charity. She personally designed vanity cases for the company. All profits for the luggage when to amfAR. The sales reportedly reached more than 3 million dollars.
Let’s hope she puts in another 20 years in this important role.
Vogue Photo Shoot
Sharon Stone realized that if you have a fall as significant as hers was, you have to spend some time rediscovering yourself.
Though the one thing Stone never forgot was that she still has her sex appeal.
Stone started her career as a model, and it seems she is getting back to her roots. She has done quite a bit of modeling in her career renaissance.
One noteworthy modeling campaign was in the 2019 issue of Vogue Portugal. At age 61 the actress did a topless photoshoot for the magazine.
Stone says she knows she is still sexy. And the modeling backs that statement up. Some of the shots for Vogue Portugal are an homage to her famous scene in Basic Instinct.
She claims she had a great time working with the magazine.
For how good she looks, it likely won’t be the last time we see her modeling.
Though Sharon Stone was one of the most recognizable actresses in the 1990s, a dramatic health scare in the 2000s nearly destroyed her. She was nearly destroyed by Hollywood, but the actress has worked hard to climb back up the mountain.
So, what do you think? What is Sharon Stone’s best movie? Do you look forward to seeing what she has lined up next?
Sound off in the comments below.
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Thanks for watching.
