Sharon Stone has spoken openly on the many troubles she’s faced since suffering a devastating stroke in 2001, including what she needs to do in order avoid “seizures”.
Earlier this year, the actress revealed that she’d had just a 1% chance of surviving the aforementioned stroke, and claimed to have been ostracized by Hollywood ever since.
Now, the Basic Instinct star has revealed that she has to get eight hours of uninterrupted sleep a night to ensure that she doesn’t experience another medical incident.
She was once one of the biggest female stars in the world, capable of drawing audiences to blockbuster films, and without doubt a supremely talented actress.
These days, though, life looks plenty different for Sharon Stone than it did during her heyday.
The now-65-year-old suffered a serious stroke in 2001, and though over two decades have passed, she’s still feeling the effects.
American actors Sharon Stone and Michael Douglas on the set of Basic Instinct directed by Dutch Paul Verhoeven. (Photo by Sunset Boulevard/Corbis via Getty Images)
“For a long time I wanted to pretend that I was just fine,” Stone told People Magazine in a recent interview.
“I need eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for my brain medication to work so that I don’t have seizures. So I’m a disability hire, and because of that I don’t get hired a lot. These are the things that I’ve been dealing with for the past 22 years, and I am open about that now.”
Earlier this year in June, Stone discussed in detail how she felt that she had been unceremoniously dumped by Hollywood in the wake of her stroke.
Speaking at the “Raising Our Voices” luncheon, given by The Hollywood Reporter, Stone described herself as “a person that has a diversity issue.”
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“I had a stroke in 2001,” she explained. “I had a 1% chance of survival. I had a nine-day brain bleed. I recovered for seven years and I haven’t had jobs since. My contract changed. I have a maximum of a 14-hour day. When it first happened, I didn’t want to tell anybody because, you know, if something goes wrong with you, you’re out. Something went wrong with me: I’ve been out, for 20 years.”
It should go without saying that there’s no good time to have a stroke, but the circumstances of Stone’s were particularly unfortunate. The actress was at the peak of her powers in 2001, having been nominated for an Oscar for Casino just five years previous.
Mere months before the stroke, Stone and her then-husband, Phil Bronstein, adopted their son Roan.
“I lost everything,” Stone said of the stroke. “I lost all my money. I lost custody of my child. I lost my career. I lost all those things that you feel are your real identity and your life.
“I never really got most of it back, but I’ve reached a point where I’m okay with it, where I really do recognize that I’m enough.”
God bless Sharon Stone, a wonderful actress and an inspiring human being!
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