Sharon Stone
is back. And after famously serving as amfAR’s Global Campaign Chair
for 15 years, she’s taken on a new role as advocate for brain-aging
diseases that disproportionally affect women.
Only one third of
Alzheimers patients are men, for instance. And don’t even get Stone
started on strokes. “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 told Variety at an event she hosted to raise awareness for the Women’s Brain Health Initiative in West Hollywood on Wednesday night.
They say that Hollywood loves a comeback but unfortunately, that has
not been Stone’s experience. “People treated me in a way that was
brutally unkind,” she said. And she wasn’t referring to men (other than
perhaps her ex-husband Phil Bronstein). “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.”
During that time, Stone suffered insurmountable losses, both
professional and personal: “[From] trying to keep custody of my son to
just functioning — to be able to work at all,” Stone added. “I was so
grateful to [LVMH head and now the second-richest person in the world]
Bernard Arnault, who rescued me by giving me a Dior contract. But I had
to remortgage my house. I lost everything I had. I lost my place in the
business. I was like the hottest movie star, you know?” she said, her
voice trailing off. “It was like Miss Princess Diana and I were so
famous — and she died and I had a stroke. And we were forgotten.”
But what Stone wants people to remember is her potentially
life-saving advice: “if you have a really bad headache, you need to go
to the hospital,” she said. “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.” At the time, Stone wasn’t even aware of how dire her
chances for survival were. “No one told me — I read it in a magazine,”
she added.
The sister of “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” was another one of the
lucky survivors of a brain aneurysm. “She had a massive headache and
collapsed,” Jane Seymour told Variety. “She
was not expected to live, and they had to close down [the set of] ‘Dr.
Quinn.’ I was by her bedside the whole time. But she managed to relearn
how to walk, talk and she’s good now. We call her the miracle.”
Even though Stone didn’t initially feel any love from the sisterhood, she was certainly surrounded by admirers on this night. Andie MacDowell, Kelly Lynch, Garcelle Beauvais and Rumer Willis were among the actresses who turned out to show their support at celebrity florist Eric Buterbaugh’s
galley. And as far as they’re concerned, Stone is still a hot movie
star. “I’ve known Sharon a long time and she is truly powerful woman,”
Broadway and film producer Paula Wagner told Variety.
“Whatever she undertakes, she does it with great strength and
intelligence and brings awareness to it. So it’s wonderful that she is
bringing this story openly and honestly. She inspires me.”
Full Article & Source:
Sharon Stone Gets Candid About Life After Her Stroke: ‘People Treated Me in a Way That Was Brutally Unkind’
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