Sharon Stone’s philosophy on staying positive after near-fatal brain hemorrhage, financial problems
Sharon Stone she still chooses to be happy 24 years after a near-fatal brain hemorrhage that changed the course of her life forever.
Before awarding the award for the best foreign film at Golden Globe Awards 2025 in Beverly Hills, Calif., on Sunday night, Stone told Fox News Digital that she believes people have a choice about how they view the world.
“I think you can choose how you view the world, and I choose to be happy, which I think is a discipline. And that’s what I do,” Stone said.
Sharon Stone chooses to be “happy” 24 years after her “near-death experience.” (Getty Images)
The iconic actress, who rose to fame in the 1990s with breakthrough roles in the films “Basic Instinct” and “Casino”, spoke with BBC News December about the advice she would give her younger self.
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“You’re going to make it,” Stone told the tearful outlet. “You don’t know it, but you’ll make it. I’d have it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. I wish I knew it so many times.”
“I think you can choose how you look at the world, and I choose to be happy, which I think is a discipline. And that’s what I do.”
She continued: “When I was on the floor and I couldn’t get an ambulance. When I went home [from the hospital] and I read in People magazine that for 30 days we won’t know if I’m going to live or die.”
After suffering a brain hemorrhage in 2001, Stone said she became “a very different person.” She explained that even her taste in food has changed.
WATCH: Sharon Stone’s philosophy on staying positive after near-fatal brain hemorrhage, financial woes
Through it all, Stone chose to be resilient.
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“We can choose to fart and moan, or we can choose joy. I think you just have to keep choosing joy,” Stone told BBC News. “Stay present. You fell. Get up. Someone pushed you down. Now they want to help you up. Let them.”
In May, Stone appeared on the British “Good morning Britain” and talked about how her career took a significant turn from acting to activism after she had a “near-death experience.”
Sharon Stone suffered a nine-day brain hemorrhage in 2001. (Stefano Guidi)
“I went to the first hospital and had an MRI and had this near death experience and then he was transferred to a specialized hospital. I continued to bleed on the brain for nine days before my best friend was convinced [the doctors] to watch again,” she said at the time. “Thank God they did, because they understood what was happening and how it happened and managed to fix it at the last minute.”
“It was really one of those beautiful miracles,” she added. “Of course, I’m a different person. I have an invisible disability. People can help you when they see you walk with crutches, but when you have a little problem with your brain, people don’t know you need help with that.”
The actress, who has spent more than 20 years as an activist for the World Health Organization, said that her first step of recovery took about “seven years”.
Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone starred in the 1992 film Basic Instinct. (TriStar/Getty Images)
“That’s a long time to lose momentum,” she said.
“In seven years, you are no longer the taste of the times, you are no longer hot at the box office, the same people you worked with are no longer in power,” she added. “Everything changes and people don’t care about that person anymore. It’s like going back to your old job seven years later… you don’t just go back to work and think nothing has changed.”
“I was a bit hurt that the world is moving on without me,” she admitted. – But now I’m somehow over it.
Sharon Stone has already spoken about how “the world has moved on” without her after suffering a brain haemorrhage. (Mondadori Portfolio)
In 2023, Stone spoke further about how her medical scare significantly affected her career.
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“I had a 1% chance of survival. I had a nine-day brain bleed. I’ve been in recovery for seven years and haven’t had a job since,” she said during a “Raising Our Voices” luncheon in June 2023. “My contract changed. I have a maximum 14-hour working hours, I didn’t want to tell anyone because, you know, if something goes wrong, you’re out. Something was wrong with me: I’ve been out for 20 years,” she declared.
“I didn’t have a job. 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 worked for the World Health Organization for more than 20 years. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for ZFF)
– I would like to be heard, but since I am not, I decided to work so that you are heard too – she continued. “I have spent the last 20 plus years working for the World Health Organization, working for the United Nations, working for governments around the world to make you heard. It is important to me that your diversity is not erased this counter-awakened bulls— an idea in our country.”
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Speaking with Willie Geist on “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist” in 2021, Stone, who is now a dedicated artist and painter, said she has now found peace with her life.
Sharon Stone also worked for the United Nations. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I’m in a really grateful place,” she said. “When I was a kid, I always wanted a house full of running and screaming kids and dogs, and I got that. And I feel very blessed and lucky for the life I’ve been given. We’re happy together, and what’s better than that?”
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“There is nothing more freeing than standing centered on yourself,” Stone added. “I tell my friends that my new mantra is, ‘It’s never too late to be who you are.'”
Fox News Digital’s Christina Dugan Ramirez contributed to this report.
