This morning, Sharon Stone appeared on Good Morning Britain in an exclusive interview about her new book The Beauty of Living Twice. The 20-minute segment saw Sharon talk intensely about her personal traumas, health issues and sexual abuse in Hollywood.
As a result, the 63-year-old actor quickly trended on social media as people rushed to discuss the interview. But most notably, they picked up on one very uncomfortable moment: when Adil Ray brought up the flashing scene in Basic Instinct.
In what was an honest and emotional conversation about Sharon’s life, the decision to bring up the scene felt undoubtedly awkward for viewers. ‘Ray has been promoted way above his competence. He showed that when Ms Stone was engaging in serious matters and he wanted to talk about Basic Instinct. Get him off our screens,’ one person tweeted in response.
‘Well said! He’s an absolute creep, she shut him down very quickly! A situation I’m sure she’s previously faced! Above himself,’ another added.
Stone did seem to shut down the question quickly, replying to Ray, ‘I talked about everything I really have to say about that in the book so that’s where I’m at with that.’
Now, it does appear as though Ray brought up the scene in an attempt to introduce the topic of the MeToo movement. In Stone’s book, she writes that she felt ‘duped’ into filming that particular moment by director Paul Verhoeven. She claims she was told to remove her underwear because they were ‘reflecting the light’ during filming, and was assured no one could see ‘anything’. She says only discovered how misled she’d been during a preview of the movie.
‘It was me and my parts up there,’ Stone said. ‘I had decisions to make. I went to the projection booth, slapped [director] Paul [Verhoeven] across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer. After the screening, I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have?’
Verhoeven has denied these claims, but it’s clear that if Stone did, as she alleges, feel ‘duped’ into filming nudity without consent, that would be one of many stories of sexual abuse across Hollywood. With that in mind, it’s somewhat clearer why Ray felt the need to bring up the scene – although you can see why after 30 years since the films release, Stone seems very done with discussing it.
That wasn’t the only criticism though, Stone also received some herself for appearing to read from a script during the interview. As she talked about her personal traumas, Stone often looked down while speaking. It’s particularly notable when she discusses the MeToo movement.
‘I don’t think “Me Too” is a Hollywood issue, I don’t think sexual abuse is a Hollywood issue. I think it begins in homes, both rich and poor,’ she explains. ‘I think that the lack of communication is certainly a global one. I think that rape kits need to be processed. I think that elementary schools, nursery schools, need to have places where kids can say how they feel and what’s going on… I think we need to have better communication in courtrooms about how we treat victims of these kind of crimes.’
‘I believe that think tanks need to be made so that we have a better understanding of what all of this means and that we can address it more fruitfully, more thoughtfully, more compassionately in the legal system,’ Stone continued. ‘I think that we are impoverished in our understanding of how to address these issues.’
Her answer was clearly well thought-out, an impassioned attempt to add more to the conversation beyond sharing her own experiences. So, to that we say, who cares if she read from notes? She may not have, she may have just felt uncomfortable given it’s an emotional topic, but even if she was… is there anything wrong with that?
Sexual abuse is an incredible difficult talking point for any woman, no matter your age, profession or confidence. If reading from notes makes that process easier, your points clearer and your message more impassioned, we shouldn’t be judging Stone for it – we should be applauding her.
On any subject matter, we can all be affected by nerves, attention lapses or emotion overthrowing logic, in moments like that having notes can stop you from veering off topic and actually make you a better or more confident speaker. Not reading from notes doesn’t necessarily make you a better speaker then, just someone with a really good memory.
To be honest, if more people on live TV (read, our politicians) actually read from notes, maybe everyone would have a better understanding of what they were actually saying.
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