Sharon Stone says she lost “half” of her fortune to a bad “banking deal,” presumably referring to the fallout from the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank.
The Basic instinct actress and activist, 65, attended an unforgettable evening hosted by the Women’s Cancer Research Fund in Beverly Hills on Thursday, where she received the Courage Award and addressed the star-studded crowd. She spoke about the organization and its contributions to cancer research, incorporating personal comments into her remarks, including those about her finances.
While encouraging those in attendance to donate more to the cause, she tearfully said at times, “I know that thing you have to do and figure out how to text the money is hard. I’m a technical idiot “But I can write a check. And right now that’s courage too, because I know what’s happening. I just lost half my money on this banking thing, and that doesn’t mean I’m gone.”
She didn’t say exactly what she meant by “banking,” but less than a week ago, Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, marking the second largest bank failure in US history. It has led to volatility in the financial markets.
Stone prefaced her remarks at the event by saying she usually speaks “off the cuff because, as you know, I don’t give a shit,” but she had notes last night.
Acknowledging breast cancer survivors in the room and discussing mammograms, she revealed that she was once told she had breast cancer, “because I had a tumor that was bigger than my breast.” Although it ended up being misdiagnosed: “I went to the hospital and said, ‘If you open me up and it’s cancer, please take both of my breasts,’ because I’m not one to be defined by my breasts. You know, that may seem funny coming from me because you’ve all seen them.
Stone, who wrote in her 2021 memoir about surgery to remove tumors from her breasts in the 1990s, continued: “You’ve seen them all since the surgery and you don’t even know. So never feel compelled to have a mammogram, no blood test, no surgery, because it doesn’t matter. I’m standing here telling you that I had one and a half and more tissue removed from my breasts and none of you knew it.”
Stone, who suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2001, also mentioned her late brother, Patrick Stone, who died of heart disease in February at age 57.
“My brother just died, and that doesn’t mean I’m not here,” she said of activism. “This is not an easy time for any of us. This is a hard time in the world, but I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to let a politician tell me what I can and can’t do. How I can and can’t live , and what the value of my life is and isn’t. So stand up. Stand up and say your worth. I defy you. That’s what courage is.”
Held at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire, the event drew celebrities including Rebel Wilson and fiancee Ramona Agruma, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, Julianne Hough, Lori Loughlin and daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli, Kathy and Rick Hilton, Nia Vardalos, Paul Wesley and more . Maroon 5 performed with Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo, also on the red carpet.
Stone has long been known for her candor — and recently revealed that when she lost custody of her son in the 1990s, it was a result of her 1992 film Basic instinct. On iHeartRadios Table for two podcast this month, she said she lost custody of Roan Bronstein, now 22, because of her nude scene in the movie. She recalled that the judge asked the boy at the time if he knew that his mother “makes sex films.” After losing custody, she developed heart problems and experienced “extra heartbeats in my upper and lower ventricles.” Stone is also mother to Laird Stone, 17, and Quinn Stone, 16.