Sharon Stone famously laughed during a 2018 “CBS Sunday Morning” interview when asked if she ever faced sexual harassment or assault in Hollywood. “I been in this business for 40 years,” the Oscar nominee told the reporter at the time. “Can you imagine the business I stepped into 40 years ago, looking like I look? I’ve seen it all.”
In a new appearance on Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast, Stone disclosed for the first time one of her experiences combating sexual harassment in the industry. She said that a former head of Sony exposed his penis to her when she went to his office for a general meeting in the 1980s, long before films like “Basic Instinct” (1992) and “Casino” (1995) made her an international star.
Stone did not name the former Sony executive. PvNew has reached out to Sony Pictures for comment.
The actor remembered being “so excited” to “wear a special outfit” and “to meet the head of Sony.” She wore a “Ralph Lauren jacket with the little ruffle on the shoulder” and a “denim skirt with a big ruffle at the bottom,” plus cowboy boots.
“I went to his office and it was, you know, back in the eighties, so the couch was basically on the floor, you know?” Stone told Ripa. “It was those very low giant couches and my knees were around my neck and of course, I’m so tall anyway, so I look like all legs sitting there akimbo on the couch, and he is pacing around the office and he’s doing the exact same thing.”
Stone said the Sony boss told her: “Oh, it’s true what they say about you and you’re the most gorgeous. We haven’t seen anyone like you in decades. Everybody’s talking about you and look at you. You’re the most articulate. You’re so smart and beautiful and that hair.”
“Then he came walking right up in front of me and he said, ‘But first … ‘ and he took his penis right out in my face,” Stone said. “Of course I was very young and what I do when I’m nervous, because I’m basically a very bubbly person, I started laughing. I started laughing and crying at the same time and I couldn’t stop because I became hysterical. I couldn’t stop, so he didn’t know what to do. So, of course, he put it away and he went through this door behind his desk, which I thought was that he left, so I didn’t know what to do.”
Stone continued, “I was just sitting there hysterical and eventually his secretary came and led me out, right? This was not the last of many weird experiences like this in my career.”
The actor noted that she will always accept apologies from the men in Hollywood who mistreated her over the years. For those that do not apologize, her message is as follows: “Don’t ever sit next to me again ever because if you sit next to me again, I’m gonna stand up in public and say, ‘I said, don’t sit next to me,’ so believe me.”
Stone added, “I’ve gone to screenings where the only seat left was an empty one next to me and I’ve had men sit on the stairs in the aisle because they know, don’t sit next to me if you’re a Me Too that Me Too’d me, don’t sit in that empty chair next to me unless you’re gonna say sorry.”
Stone most recently appeared in the second season of the Max comedy series “The Flight Attendant” and opposite Andy Garcia in the romance “What about Love.” Listen to her full appearance on the “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast here.
