Sharon Stone’s gala confessions continue.
After claiming she lost “half my money” presumably in the Silicon Valley Bank collapse in a speech at the Women’s Cancer Research Fund’s fundraiser this month — Stone says she also got shortchanged on her groundbreaking film, “Basic Instinct.”
Stone revealed at the New York Women In Film & Television’s 43rd annual Muse Awards lunch that she only made $500,000 for the 1992 sex thriller.
“Michael Douglas made $14 million. Now, I was new. I was new and he was a very big star,” she told the crowd of mostly female film and TV execs on Tuesday.
Stone also explained how she faced disrespect from a line producer on the Paul Verhoeven-directed project, who kept mistakenly referring to her as Karen throughout the “entirety of the film.”
“Even at the Governor’s Ball [after the Oscars], he still called me ‘Karen!’ And, I carried that humiliation really deeply within me — even though my name wasn’t on the poster,” she said.
Stone was honored at the event with eight other women, including “The Piano Lesson” star Danielle Brooks, Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences president Janet Yang, “Slumdog Millionaire” star Freida Pinto and Sandra Lee.
Lee brought fiance Ben Youcef as her supportive arm candy for the luncheon. Spies caught him refusing Cipriani’s food and water because he’s observing Ramadan.
Lee took the stage and credited Stone for giving “me some of my best advice” when she sat next to her on a plane before she was known as a lifestyle TV host and activist.
She said that Stone told her at the time, “‘Make sure your hair is never perfect.'”
“It hasn’t been perfect since you said it,” Lee quipped.
Stone confirmed the meeting during her acceptance speech, saying, “Yes, Sandra and I sat on a plane together… and I told her to give more than you take, and boy, did you. I’m so proud,” she said.
The room erupted in applause — and chuckles — when Stone shared a story from the recent Vanity Fair Oscar party about how her friend, “Sarah Paulson said to me, ‘Why is everybody so mad at you?'”
“I think you all know why everyone’s so mad at me,” the Hollywood rabble-rouser told the crowd.
“Thank you,” she quipped before taking credit for being one of the few women, “who said that beautiful word ‘no,’ so the rest of us could say yes,” she said.
Stone also recently choked back tears at the Women’s Cancer Research Fund’s “Unforgettable Evening” fundraiser when she told the shocked crowd at the charity gala, “I know that thing that you have to get on and figure out how to text the money is difficult. I’m a technical idiot, but I can write a f–king check. And right now, that’s courage, too, because I know what’s happening. I just lost half my money to this banking thing.”
