Sharon Stone Recounts Humiliating Lingerie Sale, Citing Contract Changes

Sharon Stone has described a "degrading" experience from the 1980s where her used lingerie was put up for sale, an incident that motivated her to revise her acting contracts. The 68-year-old actress told Variety that during her early career in episodic television, she discovered her underwear and bras displayed on a table outside. "I was so embarrassed, and I was like, 'This is just so degrading to me as a woman,'" Stone recalled.

Following this experience, Stone consulted with fellow actresses, including Carrie Fisher, to learn how to modify her contracts. She began requesting that her costumes be included as part of her contract. "I just went to my manager and I was like, 'Chuck, I want my costumes in my contract,'" she said. "He goes, 'That is the weirdest thing I've ever heard.' I'm like, 'I just don't want them auctioning off my underwear anymore.'"

Stone noted that the request was met with resistance from studios, who argued that such clauses were unusual. However, she asserted her right to include them, drawing on the precedents set by Fisher and her mother, Debbie Reynolds. "Well, guess what? Carrie did, and so did Debbie, and so do I," Stone stated, emphasizing the power of women asserting their rights. She also advised aspiring actors to carefully read their contracts, suggesting that agents may prioritize studio interests.

Stone also touched upon her aspirations to direct, which she felt were hindered by her gender in the entertainment industry. "I do have that troubling vagina issue that got in the way of being allowed to have jobs or be paid fairly for them or be considered to have an intelligent point of view," she commented. Now, she stated, a different issue prevents her from pursuing directing. "Now I have the troubling postmenopausal problem that makes me feel too tired to put up with people's bulls*** in order to take a directing position."

In the same interview, Stone discussed her role in the third season of Euphoria, where she played an executive opposite Sydney Sweeney's character, Cassie. Stone's character attempted to persuade Cassie to leave her work as a cam girl and join a series she was producing. "And she agreed to stop being a cam girl, which she didn't do," Stone observed, referencing Sweeney's subsequent lingerie line.