Sharon Stone continues to choose to be happy, 24 years after a near-fatal brain hemorrhage that changed the course of her life forever.
Before presenting the award for best foreign film at the Golden Globe Awards 2025 in Beverly Hills, California, Stone told Fox News Digital on Sunday night that she believes people have a choice about how they view the world.
“I think you get to choose how you look at the world, and I choose to be happy, which I think is a discipline. And so that’s what I do,” Stone said.
Sharon Stone chooses to be “happy” 24 years after her “near-death experience”. (Getty Images)
The iconic actress, who shot to fame in the 1990s with breakthrough roles in ‘Basic Instinct’ and ‘Casino,’ spoke to BBC news in December about the advice she would give her younger self.
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“You’re going to make it,” Stone told the outlet, crying. “You don’t know, but you’re going to make it. I would get it tattooed on the inside of my eyelids. I wish I knew so many times.”
“I think you get to choose how you look at the world, and I choose to be happy, which I think is a discipline. And so that’s what I do.”
She continued, “When I was on the ground and couldn’t get an ambulance. When I went home (from the hospital) and I read in People magazine that we wouldn’t know for thirty days whether I would live or die.”
After her brain hemorrhage in 2001, Stone told the newspaper that she had become “a completely different person.” She explained that even her taste in food changed.
WATCH: Sharon Stone’s philosophy for staying positive after a near-fatal brain hemorrhage and financial troubles
Through it all, Stone chose to be resilient.
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“We can choose to moan and groan, or we can choose joy. I think you just have to keep choosing joy,” Stone told BBC News. ‘Stay present. You fell. Get up. Someone pushed you down. Now they want to help you up. Leave them alone.’
In May, Stone appeared on the British “Good morning Great Britain‘ and shared how her career changed significantly from acting to activism after a ‘near-death experience’.
Sharon Stone suffered a nine-day cerebral hemorrhage in 2001. (Stefano Guidi)
“I went to the first hospital and got an MRI and got this near-death experience and was subsequently transferred to a specialized hospital. “I continued to bleed into my brain for nine days before my best friend convinced (the doctors) to take another look,” she said at the time. “Thank God they did because they realized what was going on and how it had happened and were able to fix it at the last minute.”
“It really was one of those beautiful miracles,” she added. “Of course I’m a different person. I have an invisible disability. People can help you if they see you walking with crutches, but if you have a problem with brain function, people don’t know that. You need help with that.”
The actress, who has worked as an activist for the World Health Organization for more than 20 years, said her first step towards recovery took about “seven years.”
Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone starred in the 1992 film ‘Basic Instinct’. (TriStar/Getty Images)
“That’s a long time to lose your momentum,” she said.
“In seven years, you will no longer be the flavor of the time, you will no longer have a blockbuster, the same people you worked with will no longer be in power,” she added. “Everything changes and people don’t really care about that person anymore. It’s like going back to your old job seven years later… you don’t just walk back to your job and think nothing has changed.”
“I was a little hurt that the world was moving on without me,” she admitted. “But I’m kind of over it now.”
Sharon Stone has previously discussed how the “world moved on” without her after she suffered a brain haemorrhage. (Mondadori Portfolio)
In 2023, Stone further spoke about how her medical scare significantly affected her career.
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‘I had a 1% chance of survival. I had a nine-day cerebral hemorrhage. I spent seven years in recovery and haven’t had a job since,” she said at the Raising Our Voices luncheon in June 2023. “My contract changed. I have a maximum of 14 hours per day. When it first happened, I didn’t want to tell anyone because if something goes wrong with you, you’re gone. I’ve been on the road for twenty years,” she stated.
“I haven’t had any jobs. I was a very big movie star at one point in my life. I’ve broken a lot of glass ceilings with the top of my head,” she admitted.
Sharon Stone has worked for the World Health Organization for more than twenty years. (Andreas Rentz/Getty Images for ZFF)
“I would have liked to be heard, but since that wasn’t the case, I decided to work so that you could be heard,” she continued. “I have spent the last twenty years working for the World Health Organization, for the United Nations and for governments around the world so that you can be heard. It is important to me that your diversity is not wiped out by this anti-woke bulls— idea in our country.”
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Speaking to Willie Geist on “Sunday TODAY with Willie Geist” in 2021, Stone, who is now a dedicated artist and painter, said she has now found peace with her life.
Sharon Stone has also worked for the United Nations. (Selcuk Acar/Anadolu via Getty Images)
“I’m in a very grateful place,” she said. “When I was a kid, I always wanted a house full of running and screaming kids and dogs, and that’s what I got. And I feel very blessed and lucky to have the life that I have. We are happy together, and what is better than that?”
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“There’s nothing more freeing than being centered in yourself,” Stone added. “I tell my friends my new mantra is: ‘It’s never too late to become yourself.’”
Christina Dugan Ramirez of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
