Sharon Stone is detailing her hard reality – since suffering a stroke in 2001, the actress claims she's been cast aside by Hollywood.
In her opening remarks as host of the "Raising Our Voices" luncheon, given by The Hollywood Reporter, Stone admitted that similar to others in the room, she too is "a person that has a diversity issue."
"I had a stroke in 2001. 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," she declared.
"I haven’t had jobs. I was a very big movie star at one point in my life. I broke a lot of glass ceilings with the top of my head," she admitted.
SHARON STONE SAYS SHE LOST CUSTODY OF SON ROAN BECAUSE OF 'BASIC INSTINCT' NUDITY SHOT
Stone, whose career skyrocketed in the '90s with roles in "Basic Instinct" and "Casino," has pivoted predominantly to activism, declaring that being a diverse person can mean many things.
"Diversity can mean more than one thing. Diversity can be an injury. Diversity can be the color of your skin. Diversity can mean standing up for yourself. If you are diverse, you must demand a position in this business. We are here to raise our voices to demand for you. We demand that you be seen. We demand that you be heard," she passionately told the crowd. "I would have loved to be heard, but since I wasn't, I decided to work so that you could be heard."
"I have spent the last 20 years plus working for the World Health Organization, working for the United Nations, working for governments all over the world. So that you can be heard. It is important to me that your diversity does not get wiped out by this anti-woke bulls--- idea in our country," she added.
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"This democratic experiment means a lot. It means a lot.… The extreme pushing, of a controlled government society, whatever you want to call it, whatever people want to label it, is also an experiment. It doesn't mean that it is happening. It means that it is an experiment to see if you will eat it. Will you eat a controlled government? Will you eat a controlled studio system? What will you eat? Or will you stand up and be counted? Raise your voices, please," she told her audience in conclusion.
Stone, 65, has not strayed away from voicing her grievances with the industry in her past.
In her speech, Stone also suggested that her demands for fair treatment cost her jobs.
"I want to tell you that it hurt. It hurt to get paid. It hurt to fight with studio heads. It hurt to make boundaries – boundaries about who could come in my trailer and what they could ask for – boundaries about the fact that I didn’t want to sign my contract in my makeup trailer on the day that I started a show," she said."
"It hurt to say that I had, like any corporation, the opportunity to have my lawyer read my contract and that I didn’t have to start the show signing my unread contract in the makeup trailer. This has caused me a lot of problems in the business. This has caused me not to be hired."
