‘I was too good’: Sharon Stone on stardom, family secrets, sexual abuse – and her comeback after a stroke

She became world famous with Basic Instinct and Casino. Then she had a near fatal brain bleed. The actor and artist discusses strength, survival, being upskirted on set, her violent run-ins with Harvey Weinstein and the performances she’s most proud of

A couple of days before our interview, in late July, Sharon Stone announced on Instagram that her mother had died. When we meet over video link, I express my sympathies. Stone is known for her straight talking, but now she outdoes herself. “Mom, Dot, actually died a few months ago, but I was only ready to tell the public about it now because I& always get my mad feelings first when people die.” What kind of mad, I ask – grief, confusion, loss? She smiles. “A little bit of anger and a little bit of ‘I didn’t fucking need you anyway’, you know!”

Now she’s laughing. “My mom wasn’t of a sunny disposition. She was hilarious, but she said terrible things to me. Dot swore like a Portuguese dock worker.” Which takes us to her mother’s final days. “She said: ‘I’m going to kick you in the cunt,’ to me probably 40 times in the last five days. But that was her delirium. And when the last thing your mother says to you before she dies is: ‘You talk too much, you make me want to commit suicide,’ and the whole rooms laughs, you think: that’s a hard one to go out on, Mom! But that’s how she was. This lack of ability to find tenderness and peace& within herself.”