Actress Sharon Stone may have been the ultimate femme fatale of the 90s, but offscreen, her personal life far more dramatic than any Hollywood movie. In fact, no worldly amount of glitz and glamour would be enough to make up for all the craziness that’s pervaded her existence: Her freak accidents, constant mistreatment, and never-ending medical nightmares all serve to show that Sharon’s greatest achievement of all may simply have been surviving.
1. The Family Stone
Born of Irish descent, American actress Sharon Vonne Stone made her grand debut into the world on March 10, 1958, in Meadville, Pennsylvania, to accountant Dorothy Marie (née Lawson) and tool and die manufacturer Joseph William Stone II. She also had three siblings—but even from an early age, it was clear that Sharon would become the family standout.
2. She’s Whip-Smart
Sharon Stone was uniquely gifted, and as a child, she displayed early signs of academic brilliance—which led to a rumor that’s followed her for years. Reportedly, she has a Mensa-worthy IQ of 154! However, despite persistent stories, she is not an actual member of Mensa, though Jim Blackmore, Mensa’s national marketing director for America, once admitted his gut feeling “that she would definitely qualify”. So, it’s really no surprise that she soared into the second grade at the tender age of five. It’s also why she started college so early...
3. She Was Studious
Though she was still in high school, Sharon gained admittance to the Edinboro State University of Pennsylvania on a creative writing scholarship—at 15 years old. Impressive, right? I mean, you’d expect that a student who showed such scholarly promise would go on to excel in a more intellectually rigorous field. However, Sharon’s academic career was ultimately short-lived. And it was all because of a bet…
4. She Became A Beauty Queen
On a $50 bet, Sharon Stone entered a beauty pageant and won. As a result, the newly crowned Miss Crawford County became a candidate for the Miss Pennsylvania pageant the following year. Although she apparently didn’t win a second time, she left a serious mark. One judge urged Sharon to drop out of college to pursue a career as a fashion model in New York City. Of course, her professors fiercely disagreed. But it didn’t matter: Sharon had already made up her mind. She left school and headed straight for the bright lights of the Big Apple.
5. She Became A Model
By 1977, the Ford Modeling Agency in New York City claimed her as one of their own. Afterward, Sharon relocated to Europe, first residing in Milan for a year before moving to Paris. It seemed like she was finding success. But something felt off. It turned out that modeling wasn’t really Sharon’s cup of tea. Rather, she was craving something...more. Sharon decided to try her hand at acting instead. She packed up her things and headed back to New York once again. This time, however, success didn’t come quite so easily.
6. She Struggled To Make It Big
Like everyone else, Sharon Stone had to pay her dues to make it in the biz. Although she managed to land a small role in the Woody Allen movie Stardust Memories after arriving back in New York, Sharon spent the next few years toiling through a series of minor or uncredited roles. Then finally, a lucky break. She secured a starring role in the 1984 TV movie, The Vegas Strip War. Little did she know that the job would end up being more than she had bargained for…
The Vegas Strip War (1984), NBC
7. She Fell In Love
Let’s just say that when Cupid aims, he doesn’t miss. While on set, Sharon soon met the film’s producer, Michael Greenburg, and the pair quickly became entangled in a whirlwind romance. So quickly that the couple married later that year. Sadly, the pair was doomed to a heartbreaking end. The flame of their love burned too bright and too fast, and three years later, the couple separated. They officially divorced in 1990. Still, even though her marriage turned to ash, her film career began to see a teensy little spark.
The Vegas Strip War (1984), NBC
8. She Started Getting More Roles
Sharon Stone started winning more and more roles, even occasionally acting in projects with big names attached. Still, it just wasn’t enough. Sharon couldn’t understand why she wasn’t landing meatier leading roles. That’s when her manager eventually admitted the dirty truth. No one would hire her because she wasn’t considered sexy enough by Hollywood standards. Ugh. But when even her acting teacher agreed that she needed to stop shying away from her seductive side, it gave her pause for thought.
9. No One Would Let Her Try
Sharon Stone realized she needed to show she could handle playing more provocative characters. So when she learned that a super juicy role had come up for grabs, it instantly piqued her interest. But there was a major problem. Sharon wasn’t in consideration for the role. No matter how much she asked, no one would send her the script, let alone audition. Growing desperate, her manager later took matters into his own hands and broke into the casting director’s office to swipe the script so Sharon could finally read it for herself. Well, t turned out Sharon was already familiar with the film director.
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10. She Landed A Blockbuster Movie
In 1990, Sharon Stone scored the plum role of an adoring wife-turned-assassin, acting opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in Paul Verhoeven’s action film Total Recall. The picture garnered positive reviews and grossed $261.2 million worldwide, giving Sharon a newfound claim to fame as well as a major career boost. Then, she decided to do a little “career-boosting” of her own…
Total Recall (1990), TriStar Pictures
11. She Posed For Playboy
Zero judgment here, but in a bit of a risqué move that coincided with the premier of Total Recall, Sharon Stone confidently bared all for the July 1990 issue of Playboy, showing off the svelte physique she gained during filming. Such scandal! However, unlike other celebrities today, Sharon didn’t do it simply for fun. You see, the move was actually strategic…
Total Recall (1990), TriStar Pictures
12. She Made A Calculated Career Move
Remember the juicy role no one would let Sharon Stone screen-test for? Well, her appearance in Playboy was all part of a devious plan. See, unlike the character she’d just played in Total Recall, this new part called for a much, much racier persona. She knew she’d need to establish herself as a femme fatale, so she posed to demonstrate that she could handle the demands of the role—and it worked. Kinda.
13. She Fought For The Part
Even though Sharon’s manager badgered Paul Verhoeven daily for the next seven or eight months to let her audition for the new film, it turned out that the director wasn’t actually the problem: It was the male lead, Michael Douglas, who’d been refusing to test with her. So, probably exhausted by all the constant nagging, Paul finally agreed to screen test with Sharon himself. And once he did, he instantly liked what he saw…
14. She Was The Thirteenth Choice
The director liked Sharon Stone for the part, so he started playing her screen test in comparison to those of every other actress who auditioned. Though it took some time and convincing, Michael Douglas eventually relented and agreed to screen test with Sharon as well—but only after 12 other actresses had already refused the part. Of course, the thirteenth offer was the lucky charm: Sharon crushed it and finally won her much-coveted role. Unfortunately, Sharon could never have anticipated the sheer chaos the part would bring into her life.
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
15. She Became An Instant Star
The film was called Basic Instinct, and Sharon’s superb portrayal of provocative antagonist Catherine Tramell finally garnered the recognition she’d hoped for. She received several award nominations (and one Golden Raspberry award, but oh well), and the film earned US$352.9 million worldwide, making it one of the most commercially successful films of the 1990s. It was a career-making film, and Sharon should have been floating on cloud nine. But instead, she found herself living a nightmare.
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
16. She Drove Herself Mad
It turned out that making the movie had actually been a “terrifying” experience for Sharon Stone. In order to do her character justice, Sharon Stone went to brutal lengths. She had forced herself to confront and explore the darker aspects of her own personality, to the point where she began having “hideous nightmares” and started sleepwalking. And if her nights were terrible, her days weren’t much better…
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
17. She Was Pressured To Sleep With Her Co-Star
After Sharon’s casting, she got subjected to some pretty appalling treatment by the movie’s higher-ups during film prep. Outrageously, one of the producers apparently thought it would be a totally not inappropriate idea to try to pressure her to sleep with her co-star to improve their onscreen chemistry. Today, of course, that kind of behavior would be a big no-no, but in the 90s, Sharon had no choice but to put up with it. And that was just the lead-up to filming; the actual filming was way worse…
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
18. She Was Tricked
Although Sharon’s name has since become synonymous with that infamous leg-crossing move in Basic Instinct, there’s a shocking backstory to the scene that few people know. Sharon originally had no idea her nether regions would appear on camera because no one told her. After being assured that her downstairs wasn’t in view, Sharon only agreed to go commando in the scene because she was under the impression that beneath the lighting, her underwear became visible through her white dress. It wasn’t until much later that she learned the horrifying truth.
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
19. She Felt Exploited
After she’d completed filming, Sharon Stone got called into a room to watch the movie for the first time. But when she arrived, she was surprised and slightly confused to find herself in the company of several agents and lawyers who, as she put it, “had nothing to do with the project”. Then they played the movie, and Sharon saw for the first time how they’d really filmed that scene. She was beyond appalled.
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
20. She Struck The Director
Feeling betrayed, Sharon immediately got up and left the room. Angrily, she then made her way over to the projection booth, where she quickly found the director, Paul Verhoeven—and slapped him across the face. But she didn’t stop there. She then walked out of the building, got into her car, and called her lawyer. Sharon’s lawyer agreed that filming her that way was unlawful, so she considered filing an injunction against the filmmakers. But then, she had a change of heart…
21. She Let It Go
After thinking long and hard about her options, Sharon Stone ultimately decided to let her case go. “Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character, and because, after all, I did it”, she explained. Unfortunately, that decision would eventually come back to haunt her; after the movie’s release, people began to falsely equate Sharon’s real-life persona with the provocative character she’d played onscreen. And what happened next did little to diminish her new salacious image…
Basic Instinct (1992), TriStar Pictures
22. She Became A Real Life Femme Fatale
In 1993, Sharon starred in the thriller movie Sliver, a film co-produced by (ahem) a very much married man named William J. MacDonald. Regardless, one thing led to another, and William soon left his wife for Sharon. Or was it really that simple? You see, their affair was a little too on-the-nose with certain aspects of the film…
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
23. She Shared Something In Common With Her Character
Strangely, the fiction seemed to mirror reality. In Sliver, Sharon’s character learns that she resembles her new apartment’s former tenant, the blue-eyed blonde Naomi, who tragically met her demise under mysterious circumstances. Well, guess what? William’s IRL wife at the time was also a blue-eyed blonde named Naomi, whom Sharon could arguably be said to somewhat resemble. But that’s not all…
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
24. Her Co-Star Shared A Name With Her Paramour
The similarities didn’t end there. In the film, Sharon’s character engages in an intimate relationship with her dark-haired neighbor, Zeke, a guy who was previously in a relationship with the character she resembled, Naomi. Interestingly, Zeke was played by actor William Baldwin, who coincidentally shares a first name with Sharon’s equally dark-haired (at the time) new beau, William J. MacDonald. Weird, no? And just as her character’s onscreen romance with Zeke didn’t end well, Sharon and William’s affair didn’t, either.
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
25. Her Relationship Soured
Although Sharon and William were soon engaged to be married, their love story didn’t exactly get a happily ever after. For reasons unknown, the couple parted ways just one year later in 1994, and suffice it to say, things between them must have ended pretty badly. After their relationship went up in smoke, Sharon’s reaction said it all. She returned her engagement ring to William via FedEx. Ouch. And Sharon’s engagement wasn’t the only thing to turn sour from the set of Sliver.
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
26. She Hated Her Co-Star
According to the film’s director, Phillip Noyce, Sharon supposedly didn’t get along with William Baldwin. Indeed, he claimed they despised each other so much that they insisted on filming their scenes individually whenever possible. Then, during one intimate scene in particular, the tension between them turned openly hostile...
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
27. She Got Aggressive
Later, Sliver’s director shared a story about Sharon and William Baldwin—and it was seriously chilling. He alleged that she bit William’s tongue so hard during a kissing scene that he struggled to speak for the next several days. Even though screenwriter Joe Eszterhas also supported the claim, Sharon has since denied the rumor, calling it “hilarious”, and instead referred to “Billy” as “sweet and young and naïve”. Then, she struggled with yet another onscreen romance.
Sliver (1993), Paramount Pictures
28. She Refused To Cooperate
In 1994, Sharon got to act opposite Sylvester Stallone in the action movie, The Specialist. Although Sharon reportedly got along pretty well with her co-star this time, trouble soon stirred on the set when Sharon apparently refused to “cooperate” while filming one particularly steamy scene…
The Specialist (1994), Warner Bros.
29. She Wanted To Stop Filming In The Buff
Sick and tired of performing scenes without clothes on, Sharon was reluctant to film an intimate shower scene with Stallone. So, when the time came for her to drop her robe, Sharon initially refused, which irritated her co-star. But when Sharon stood firm, Sly came up with a devious plan. He returned to his trailer to get a bottle of booze, and after sharing it with her, the two got a little “wet and wild” and acted the scene together quite convincingly. Perhaps, a little too convincingly…
The Specialist (1994), Warner Bros.
30. Her Acting Was Too Believable
In the end, Sharon wasn’t the only one who wasn’t cool with the shower scene. Stallone’s then-wife, Jennifer Flavin, got particularly distraught over it because she believed there was no way for two actors to perform in that way together without catching real feelings. So, in a small twist of irony, Stallone picked up where Sharon left off and began refusing to film intimate scenes in his movies. However, unlike Sharon, he was actually allowed to refuse. Nevertheless, Sharon was “quick” to move on…
The Specialist (1994), Warner Bros.
1. She Got Engaged Again
That same year, Sharon met her next beau, a first assistant director named Bob Wagner, while working on her latest film, The Quick and the Dead. Before long, Sharon and Bob were engaged, making it at least the third time Sharon had fallen in love while working on set. But just like her other romances, this one didn’t last either, and the couple split soon afterward. Her next engagement, however…
32. She Remarried A Second Time
Four years after breaking off her engagement to Bob, Sharon married her second husband, Phil Bronstein, an American journalist and editor, on Valentine’s Day in 1998. Unfortunately, the newlyweds’ marital joy soon began to wane as Sharon experienced numerous miscarriages in her attempt to conceive a child. The reason why was heartbreaking.
33. She Struggled With Fertility
It turned out that Sharon was suffering from an autoimmune disease and endometriosis, which sadly made it impossible for her to carry biological children. Fortunately, there’s more than one way to start a family, so she and her husband joyfully adopted a son named Roan Joseph Bronstein in 2000. At 42 years old, Sharon had finally become a mother—but unfortunately, she wasn’t done with heart-wrenching health issues just yet.
34. She Developed Tumors
In 2001, Sharon developed extremely large tumors and needed surgery to remove them quickly. While the tumors thankfully turned out to be benign, their excision left Sharon requiring reconstructive surgery. Of course, Sharon immediately gave her permission to undergo a second procedure; however, when she woke up, she was gobsmacked by what she saw.
35. Her Doctor Took Liberties With Her Surgery
Sharon Stone had assumed that following her reconstructive surgery, she would wake up looking more or less the same as before the whole ordeal began. However, when she came out from under anesthesia, she made a disturbing discovery. Without consulting Sharon, her plastic surgeon decided she would look “better” with a bigger chest because it would better match her hip size. Of course, when Sharon awoke to find she was now a full cup size larger than she was supposed to be, she (rightfully) felt angry and humiliated.
Unfortunately, Sharon didn’t get much time to consider how to handle the situation.
36. Her Husband Got Attacked By A Komodo Dragon
Yep, you read that right. While on a private tour of the Los Angeles Zoo that Sharon had arranged for Phil as a Father’s Day present, hubby-dearest thought it would be an excellent idea to get an up close and personal look at a five-foot-long Komodo dragon. And as I’m sure you can imagine, this was an oh-so-very bad idea.
Yet somehow, the zookeeper thought it was a good idea and invited Phil into the enclosure…
37. This Is Why Women Live Longer Than Men
The zookeeper then instructed Phil to take off his white shoes and socks lest the dragon confuse them for a pair of tasty rats (ew), but of course, the dragon attacked Phil’s foot anyway. Fortunately, he escaped, and thinking fast, Sharon managed to fashion a sock into an emergency tourniquet for him.
In the end, Phil needed to get many of the tendons in his foot surgically reattached, but he survived…which was good, because it would soon be Sharon’s turn in the hospital. She was about to suffer the worst illness of her life.
38. She Became Extremely Sick
In September of that same year, Sharon started feeling an awful pain in her head and some numbness in her leg. Even more weirdly, her body temperature began to drop while her blood pressure elevated. Something was very wrong, and after enduring the pain for three or four days, Sharon eventually went to the hospital, where upon arriving, she suddenly collapsed. Then, her doctors figured out the horrifying reason why.
39. She Almost Didn’t Survive
By day five, Sharon was in unbearable agony; she was falling in and out of consciousness and unable to eat, stand or even think coherently. Then finally, a few days later, her doctors at last had an answer: Sharon had suffered a massive stroke, and she’d been bleeding into her face, brain, head, and spine for the past nine days. Sure enough, her prognosis looked pretty grim.
40. She Didn’t Know How Bad It Was
By the time her doctors finally wheeled her into surgery, the odds were seriously against Sharon Stone. She only had a one percent chance of survival, and for the next month, no one knew if she would make it. Unbelievably, Sharon had no idea how poor her chances actually were at the time, claiming that “No one told me—I read it in a magazine”. Still, Sharon thankfully made it out alive. But her recovery was anything but easy.
41. She Struggled To Recover
Sharon had beaten the odds, but she was still definitely worse for wear. For several months, she had to deal with drooping on one side of her face, impaired directional hearing, visual distortions, and impaired memory. She also had a slight drag in her right leg, couldn’t read, and couldn’t speak without stuttering. On top of everything else, she was also diagnosed with a brain seizure condition that required medication. Yikes.
Fortunately, she’s since vastly improved, although she still struggles with some side effects to this day. And that wasn’t all that Sharon experienced…
42. She Became A New Person
According to Sharon, she felt like her “DNA shifted” after her stroke. Weirdly, she suddenly became allergic to certain medicines as well as her formerly favorite foods, and she randomly developed a taste for curry despite having never enjoyed it before. She also described feeling calmer as a person and subsequently converted to Buddhism. Unfortunately, the changes were apparently too much for Sharon’s husband.
43. Her Husband Left Her
Sharon’s husband filed for divorce two years after her stroke, citing irreconcilable differences. Initially, Sharon and Phil shared joint custody of their young son, Roan, after their divorce became official in 2004. But then, out of nowhere, everything changed. In 2008, Phil challenged Sharon for full custody of their son, and what happened next was rage-inducing…
44. The Courts Used Her Films Against Her
Remember how the public liked to conflate Sharon with her onscreen characters? Well, apparently, the judge in their custody case was one of those people. After asking Sharon’s poor four-year-old whether he knew his mother made “XXX movies”, the judge granted Phil full custody of their son, leaving Sharon with visitation rights only. Of course, the decision shattered Sharon to her very core…
45. She Was Heartbroken
Utterly heartsick, Sharon fell into a deep depression and “couldn’t function” after losing custody of her boy. She began sleeping in the afternoons and ceased eating to the point of anorexia. The consequences were devastating. She began experiencing heart problems, and sure enough, Sharon’s doctor confirmed she was experiencing extra heartbeats in both her heart’s upper and lower chambers. As she later said: “I had just lain down and given up. My heart, it seemed, was actually broken”.
46. She Adopted More Children
After losing custody of Roan, Sharon became a mother without a child. So, mending her heart as best as possible, Sharon adopted a second boy, Laird Vonne, in 2005 and a third son, Quinn Kelly Stone, a year later in 2006. Though there was no escaping Roan’s loss, Sharon successfully rebuilt her family. However, she couldn’t seem to rebuild her career.
47. She Lost Her Place In Hollywood
Following her stroke, Sharon Stone understandably had no choice but to take a break from acting. But by the time she was ready to return to the spotlight, she quickly discovered that Hollywood had an unspoken rule: If you step away, you go to the back of the line. Suddenly, Sharon found herself struggling to secure new roles, and the few and far-between jobs she did manage to win ended up getting severely panned by the critics. Sharon, it seemed, had lost her star status. So, she quietly turned to other endeavors.
48. She Returned To School
Sharon always felt a pang of regret for never finishing college, especially since she was the first female in her family to get to go. So when Hillary Clinton ran for President Of The United States, it inspired her: Sharon realized she could be anything she wanted. She decided to finish what she’d started when she was 15 years old, and in 2016, Sharon reenrolled at her former college to complete her degree online.
Now, she’s officially a college graduate. Sharon has certainly led an interesting life. But even though she’s clearly tried to remain positive, it turned out she’d been harboring some dark childhood secrets the entire time...
49. Her Father Hurt Her
It took years for Sharon Stone to admit it, but from elementary school up until she was 14 years old, her dad used to beat her. According to Sharon, it wasn’t unusual for him to yell at her, yank her around, throw her down, or drag her into the basement and beat her with a belt. “It continued until I was so sure I didn’t do what I was being punished for that I lost all fear, all concern—in fact, all feeling. I simply saw my father as weak”, Sharon wrote. Until one day, something inside her snapped.
50. She Confronted Her Father
Though she was just a young teen, Sharon had had enough. She walked over to her dad and asked him if hitting her made him feel more like a man before telling him she didn’t love him, had never loved him, and never would love him. Her words stopped him in his tracks. Shocked, her father suddenly broke down crying, and from that day on, he never hit Sharon or her siblings again.
Fortunately, Sharon and her father’s relationship eventually mended, as she claimed she had nothing but “respect” and “love” for her dad, who passed in 2009. But sadly, her father wasn’t her only childhood tormentor.
51. Her Grandfather Was A Real Piece Of Work
Disturbingly, Sharon’s maternal grandfather, Clarence Lawson, preyed on her and her younger sister Kelly when they were both toddlers. As one can imagine, the mistreatment, which included inappropriate physical encounters and constant threats to their lives, impacted both girls quite deeply; however, they’ve since sought therapy to help them deal with their trauma. But, unbelievably, it turned out that even more was going on behind the scenes of those awful encounters…
52. Her Grandmother Was No Prize, Either
Sharon’s grandfather had an unexpected accomplice. As shocking as it sounds, Sharon’s grandmother actively aided her husband in mistreating their granddaughters by leaving them alone in a room with him and locking the door, where he would then carry out his terrible acts. In more ways than one, young Sharon’s tiny trust was broken, so it’s no great surprise that she’d need some extra assurance for what came next.
53. She Needed To Feel Safe
Sharon’s grandfather eventually kicked the bucket when she was 14 years old. Still, (for obvious reasons) she had trouble believing that her encounters with him were truly over. So, she did what any kid would think to do: She made her way over to his casket and poked at his body to make extra, extra sure that he wasn’t coming back. According to Sharon, “I poked him, and the bizarre satisfaction that he was at last [gone] hit me like a ton of ice. I looked at [Kelly], and she understood; she was 11, and it was over”. But a whole other kind of pain was still lurking on the horizon…
Deadly Blessing (1981), United Artists
54. She Had An Accident
That same year, Sharon suffered through a wild and dramatic horse-riding incident. While her mother was off in their yard hanging sheets on a clothesline, a barefooted Sharon decided to mount a wild horse in an attempt to break it, when suddenly, the unruly horse took off. Although the horse was bucking, rearing, and spinning, Sharon still managed to hold on. Unfortunately, she didn’t realize they were headed straight for her mother’s clothesline until it was too late.
55. She Was Nearly Decapitated
Near fatally, the clothesline caught around Sharon’s neck, holding her in place and causing her feet to slide through the stirrups. Meanwhile, the horse refused to settle down. Sharon was stuck, but try as she might, she couldn’t break herself free. Thankfully, that’s when her mother noticed her daughter’s mortal peril, and she managed to push the horse back far enough to free Sharon from the clothesline. But then, the horse bolted once again, dragging Sharon behind it.
56. She Was Seriously Injured
Her mother, who was basically channeling her inner Wonder Woman by this point, eventually freed Sharon from the horse after grabbing her by the leg. But Sharon was far from okay. Her neck was ripped open from ear to ear and deeply cut to just a sixteenth of an inch away from her jugular vein. As blood dripped down the front of her shirt, it was apparent that Sharon was in dire need of medical help. Fast.
57. Her Doctors Weren’t Sure How To Help Her
Sharon’s parents wasted no time rushing her to the hospital, where she exasperatedly waited hours for help because the doctors weren’t sure how to treat her. Losing patience, Sharon’s dad eventually “grabbed a doctor by the lapel and threw him into the room”, demanding that he sew up Sharon’s neck. Luckily, the doctor was actually a surgeon, and he did manage to clean and butterfly Sharon’s wound back together. But the result left something to be desired.
58. She Underwent Multiple Surgeries
As Sharon’s wound healed, it formed a large, unsightly rope-like scar that turned in color from red to pink and then, lastly, to white, leaving her neck looking…well, jarring. Over the next several years, Sharon suffered through numerous surgeries in an effort to minimize her scar’s appearance; fortunately, it’s barely visible today. Sharon has since grown more accepting of it as an adult, saying, “I don’t care about it on most days, and once you survive things, over time, well…I personally feel proud of my scars”. Well, it’s a good thing—because there was more to come.
59. She Got Struck By Lightning
Okay, so getting hit by lightning is supposed to be rare. That is, unless your last name is Stone, apparently. In yet another chaotic accident, Sharon’s dad got struck by lightning while standing near a big oak tree in their yard. But it didn’t end there. Sharon had been standing at the kitchen sink, filling an iron with water to straighten out her work uniform, when lightning unexpectedly struck her family’s well. The electricity instantly entered the house through the water—and poor Sharon still had her hand on the faucet. The powerful shock sent Sharon flying through the air.
60. She Got Knocked Out Cold
Sharon Stone slammed backward into the refrigerator, knocking her unconscious. Sharon’s mother (who must’ve gone fully grey by this point) found her daughter lying semi-comatose on the floor and, undoubtedly panicked, absolutely belted Sharon across the face to wake her up. It worked, and once Sharon came to, her mother quickly shoved her into the car and drove her back to the hospital. It was there that they learned how bad the damage really was.
61. She Suffered Heart Damage
Once again, Sharon wasn’t walking away from her accident unscathed. An electrocardiogram (EKG) revealed she had a prolapsed valve in her heart and measured a lot of erratic electrical activity. So erratic, in fact, that Sharon had to keep returning to the hospital for repeat EKGs every day for the next couple of weeks to ensure her heart would be okay. But as they say, life goes on. Sharon may have suffered heart damage, but her brain still worked perfectly well, and she rose up to earn herself a legendary career.
Sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29
