Sharon Stone Opens Up About Enduring a ‘Massive Brain Hemorrhage’

Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for amfAR(LOS ANGELES) — Sharon Stone has been considered one of Hollywood’s sexiest women for all of her more than 30 years in front of the camera.  And she doesn’t fear growing older — especially after suffering what she describes as a “massive brain hemorrhage” in 2001.

The 56-year-old actress recounts in an essay published in the Hollywood Reporter that because of the health scare, “I don’t choose to make growing older a negative. I choose to get older. Growing older is my goal.”

“I spent two years learning to walk and talk again. I came home from that stroke stuttering, couldn’t read for two years,” she recounts. “I don’t need someone to make me feel bad about growing older. I’ll tell you what makes you feel bad: when you think you might not.”

Stone said she’s now doing well, which she credits to her hard work and determination to thrive. She tries to hit the gym four or five times a week and eats cleanly, because “people don’t want to see a fat Sharon Stone.”

Ultimately, Stone says, “The key to looking good as you get older is, it all comes from the inside. You have to do what you like to do. If you hate to go to the gym, don’t put yourself on a gym regimen. Do what you like to do, but do it every day. I love to dance, and I dance hard. When I started thinking about aging, I thought, ‘Who do I want to look like as I age?’ And the answer was dancers.”

Now, the actress is looking and feeling her best — and others are noticing too, both personally and professionally. Not only is she unafraid to audition for roles that aren’t originally meant for actresses her age, but also, she says younger men hit on her all the time.

“I believe there can be a movie plot where the leading hot guy who’s 43 falls for me instead of the 25-year-old girl,” she writes. “Every time I go into a Starbucks, some 20-year-old guy throws himself at me! Although it might be because he knows there’s a meal at the end of it. But these young guys know the sex would be better.”

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