Sharon Stone Was Once Told She’d ‘Never Work Again’ After Turning Down a Studio Executive’s Advances

Actor Sharon Stone once found herself in a situation where she was courted by a fairly well-known producer. After rejecting the executive’s advances, however, the producer vowed to end her career.

Sharon Stone laughed when she was asked if she faced any harassment in the industry

The often candid Stone has been very open about her experiences in Hollywood regarding sexual harassment. In excerpts from her own memoir, for instance, Stone recalled situations where others attempted to pressure her in uncomfortable situations.

“I’ve had other producers on other films just come to my trailer and ask, ‘So, are you going to f*** him, or aren’t you? … You know it would go better if you did.’ I take my time and explain that I am like the nice girl they grew up with, and get them to recall that girl’s name. This leaves us all with a little bit of our dignity,” she once wrote in The Beauty of Living Twice (via Vanity Fair).

So when Stone was asked if she’d ever experienced harassment in the industry, the actor couldn’t help but laugh at the question.

“I’ve been in this business for 40 years,” Stone said in an interview on CBS. “Can you imagine the business I stepped into 40 years ago? Looking like I look, from nowhere Pennsylvania? I didn’t come here with any protection. I’ve seen it all.”

The Quick and the Dead actor felt this sense of entitlement in some men was partially due to how women were raised. But societal changes were making it so women in the industry were beginning to recognize their value more and more.

“We were raised to accommodate men, particularly in my generation. And women so often lose their own identify to the identity of the men that they’re with,” she said. “We’re starting to acknowledge our own gifts as women and not think that we have to behave as men in order to be empowered or powerful or valuable.”

Sharon Stone’s career was once threatened for turning down the advances of an executive

The Basic Instinct star was once told her career would be ruined after a meeting with a studio executive went awry. Years ago, the Oscar-nominee was propositioned by someone with influence in the film industry.

“The first time I turned down a studio executive who wanted to sleep with me, he screamed, ‘You’ll never work in this town again,’” she once said in a 1992 printed edition of Movieline. “And I thought it was the funniest thing I’d ever heard.”

Stone would also face a producer who unexpectedly exposed himself in front of her. Her reaction to the incident was similar to her reaction during her CBS sit-down interview.

“When a well-known producer opened his zipper and went to pull out his thing during a meeting, I thought that was the funniest thing I’d ever seen,” she said. “I mean, hey, if you’re going to act out a movie, couldn’t you at least act out a better one? I’m a trophy to a lot of men, but who needs that?”

Sharon Stone once revealed executives would only hire her if she had enough sex appeal

Earlier in the industry, the Catwoman star shared how she believed film executives had a certain standard they wanted women to meet before hiring them. This standard was based on a woman’s looks and sex appeal. Because of this, Stone initially had trouble getting her foot through the door in Hollywood.

“When I entered the business the term ‘f***able’ was used to see if you were employable. The studio executives sat around a large table and discussed whether or not each of us was in fact ‘f***able. They thought I was not,” she once told Vogue. “I gave this some hard thought as I wanted to work, so I did a strategically planned semi-naked Playboy shoot. Did I fit the part? Obviously not. Did I use my brain to figure out how to appear ‘f***able’? You bet.”