Sharon Stone has released her autobiography, The Beauty of Living Twice, detailing a life filled with trauma, survival, and Hollywood success. The book, published in the UK on Thursday, covers her childhood abuse, her rise to fame, and the stroke that nearly killed her in 2001.
Stone recounts a difficult upbringing in Pennsylvania, where she was beaten by her parents and witnessed her grandfather abusing her sister. She describes the 'bizarre satisfaction' of poking his dead body at age 14, and channelled that rage into her role as a serial killer in Basic Instinct.
The actress also reveals that during the filming of Basic Instinct, she was tricked into exposing herself on camera. Director Paul Verhoeven told her to remove her underwear to avoid light reflection, but the shot was visible. Stone slapped him and consulted a lawyer, but ultimately allowed the scene to stay because it suited the character.
In 2001, after surgery to remove benign breast tumours, Stone discovered her plastic surgeon had enlarged her breasts without consent. 'He had changed my body without my knowledge or consent,' she writes. She believes this surgery indirectly led to her stroke, which gave her a 1% chance of survival.
Stone describes the stroke as a 'luminous, uplifting whiteout' that pulled her out of her body. She has since questioned why she ignored her own instincts, and the memoir is her attempt to answer those big questions.
