Sharon Stone Said She Lost $18M After Her 2001 Stroke: ‘People Took Advantage Of Me’

Actress Sharon Stone said she was left completely broke after having a stroke in 2001 because people “took advantage” of her.

The 66-year-old “Basic Instinct” star told The Hollywood Reporter during an interview published Monday that all of the millions she had in savings disappeared following the medical emergency and her lengthy recovery.

“…People took advantage of me during that time. I had $18 million saved because of all my success, but when I got back into my bank account, it was all gone. My refrigerator, my phone — everything was in other people’s names,” Stone told the outlet.

“I had zero money,” she added. 

The actress also discussed how the stroke altered her entire outlook on life. 

“A Buddhist monk told me that I had been reincarnated into my same body,” Stone explained. “I had a death experience and then they brought me back. I bled into my brain for nine days, so my brain was shoved to the front of my face. It wasn’t positioned in my head where it was before.”

She continued, “And while that was happening, everything changed. My sense of smell, my sight, my touch. I couldn’t read for a couple of years. Things were stretched and I was seeing color patterns. A lot of people thought I was going to die.”

The interviewer asked Stone how she managed to survive such an extreme medical event and the subsequent loss of trust in the people around her.

“I decided to stay present and let go,” she explained. “I decided not to hang onto being sick or to any bitterness or anger. If you bite into the seed of bitterness, it never leaves you. But if you hold faith, even if that faith is the size of a mustard seed, you will survive. So, I live for joy now. I live for purpose.”

The stroke occurred when Stone was 43. The Academy Award nominee noticed her body felt numb, and there was a “terrible pain” in her head. She was diagnosed with a brain bleed and given a 1% chance of survival at the time, per The New York Post.