Sharon Stone said Thursday at a Women’s Cancer Research Fund event that she lost “half” her money in the aftermath of the Silicon Valley bank. (Photo: AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)
Sharon Stone says she lost “half” of her fortune to a bad “banking deal,” presumably referring to the aftermath of the Silicon Valley bank collapse.
The primal instinct The 65-year-old actress and activist attended an unforgettable evening at the Women’s Cancer Research Fund in Beverly Hills on Thursday, where she received the Courage Award and spoke to the star-studded crowd. She spoke about the organization and its contributions to cancer research, and included personal comments in her remarks, including those about its finances.
While encouraging attendees to donate more to the charity, she tearfully said: “I know it’s difficult to figure out how to text the money. I’m a technical idiot, but I can write a damn check. And at the moment that’s also courage, because I know what’s going to happen. I just lost half my money on this bank thing, and that doesn’t mean I’m not here.
She didn’t say exactly what she meant by “banking thing,” but less than a week ago, the Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, marking the second largest bank collapse in US history. This has led to volatility in the financial markets.
Stone began her comments at the event by saying that she usually “speaks offhand because, as you know, I don’t give up,” but she had notes last night.
While acknowledging breast cancer survivors in the room and discussing mammograms, she reveals that she was once told she had breast cancer “because I had a tumor that was bigger than my breast.” While there was a misdiagnosis, “I left to the hospital and said ‘if you open me up and it’s cancer, please take both breasts’ because I’m not a person defined by my breasts. You know, that might seem funny coming from me since you’ve all seen them.
Stone, who wrote in her 2021 memoir about having surgery to remove tumors from her breasts in the 1990s, continued, “You’ve all seen her since the surgery and you don’t even know it. So never feel compelled to not have a mammogram, not to have a blood test, not to have an operation because it doesn’t matter. I stand here and tell you that I had one and a half and more tissue removed from my breasts and none of it you knew it. “
The story goes on
Stone, who suffered a near-fatal stroke in 2001, also mentioned her late brother Patrick Stone, who died of heart disease in February at the age of 57.
“My brother just passed away and that doesn’t mean I’m not here,” she said of activism. “This is not an easy time for any of us. This is a tough time in the world but I’ll tell you what, I’m not going to let any politician tell me what I can and can’t do. How I can and cannot live, and what is and is not worth my life. So get up. Get up and say what you’re worth. I challenge you. That’s what courage is.”
The event, held at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire, attracted celebrities including Rebel Wilson and her fiancee Ramona Agruma, Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, Julianne Hough, Lori Loughlin and daughter Olivia Jade Giannulli, Kathy and Rick Hilton, Nia Vardalos, Paul Wesley and more. Maroon 5 performed with Adam Levine and Behati Prinsloo and also hit the red carpet.
Stone has long been known for her outspokenness – and recently revealed that losing custody of her son in the 1990s was a result of her 1992 film primal instinct. On iHeartRadios table for two Podcast this month, she said she lost custody of Roan Bronstein, now 22, because of her nude scene in the film. She recalled the judge asking the boy at the time if he knew his mother “makes sex films.” After losing custody, she had heart problems and experienced “extra heartbeats in my upper and lower chambers of the heart.” Stone is also mother to Laird Stone, 17, and Quinn Stone, 16.