Sharon Stone has revealed how she was treated in a “brutally unkind” way by Hollywood after suffering a stroke in 2001.
The actress was speaking at an event to raise awareness for the Women’s Brain Health Initiative in West Hollywood on Wednesday night.
“From other women in my own business to the female judge who handled my custody case, I don’t think anyone grasps how dangerous a stroke is for women and what it takes to recover — it took me about seven years”, she said.
Her inability to work meant she took a two-year hiatus to recover from the stroke.
During this time she was forced to remortgage her house and tried to keep custody of her son.
“I was so grateful to Bernard Arnault who rescued me by giving me a Dior contract. But I had to remortgage my house. I lost everything I had“, she revealed.
“I lost my place in the business. I was like the hottest movie star, you know? It was like Princess Diana and I were so famous, and she died and I had a stroke. And we were forgotten”.
The 61-year-old began her acting career in the 1980s and got her big break when she starred in Basic Instinct, receiving a nomination for Best Actress at the Golden Globe awards.
After serving as amfAR’s Global Campaign Chair for 15 years, Stone is now an advocate for brain-aging diseases that disproportionately affect women.
“This is why I do it: My mother had a stroke. My grandmother had a stroke. I had a massive stroke and a nine-day brain bleed”, she said.
She also gave some potentially life-saving advice to her fans.
“If you have a really bad headache, you need to go to the hospital. I didn’t get to the hospital until day three or four of my stroke. Most people die. I had a 1% chance of living by the time I got surgery – and they wouldn’t know for a month if I would live”.
#Peace.Love.SharonStone
