Sharon Stone on having a stroke: don’t ask your friends what to do, call 911


Sharon Stone had a devastating stroke in 2001 that completely altered the trajectory of her life. She references the stroke a lot, I think because A) it was, to quote our dearly missed president, “a big f–king deal,” and B) because she doesn’t want it to happen to you. Sharon just hosted the American Heart Association Red Dress Collection Concert last week, and once again she took the time to describe what she came back from, reiterating that “I can do it, and I made it, and you can too.” One thing she said in particular that should definitely be amplified, is the reminder that if you’re experiencing any symptoms (like numbness, especially on one side of the body, confusion, difficulty speaking or understanding words), get yourself to a hospital ASAP. Do not wait or hesitate!

“I walked out of that hospital, unable to write my own name,” Stone, 66, tells PEOPLE exclusively while hosting the American Heart Association (AHA) Red Dress Collection Concert on Jan. 30. She said following the stroke, she was “unable to remember anything.”

And yet, the Basic Instinct star tells PEOPLE, “I’m right here hosting this ball on two feet in five-inch heels, and I can do it, and I made it, and you can too.”

After a ruptured vertebral artery bled into her brain for nine days, Stone says there weren’t rehabilitation programs that could help.

“When it happened to me, there wasn’t a program that would help me walk again. There wasn’t a program that would stop my suffering,” Stone explains. “There wasn’t any aftercare, and certainly, insurance companies are f—king us right and left, and there wasn’t any insurance to help me. There wasn’t anything. And I’m sure that there’s probably even less now.”

Her situation was made worse by a turbulent personal life, as her husband Phil Bronstein divorced her during her recovery.

But the Casino alum said she wants people to know they can — and should — fight to survive: “I want to say to people, ‘You can do it.’ And I want them to look at me and know, [I had] a husband that was divorcing me, with everybody fighting to take everything, with the bank, who had taken $18 million all my life savings. I had nothing. I had no money. No career.”

“I was destitute with a 1% chance of surviving,” Stone, who calls herself a “proud survivor,” tells PEOPLE.

The Emmy winner urges people to pay attention to stroke symptoms and to advocate for themselves, warning, “If your face starts to fall in any way or has numbness, if your arm feels strange or numb in any way, if your speech is weird, or you say something and it’s not what you were trying to say, or your speech is slurred — you have no time, call an ambulance.”

“Don’t ask your friends. Don’t ask your husband or someone else, ‘What do you think I should do?’ 911, no questions asked,” Stone continues. “I called people. They hung up on me, left me on the floor, didn’t help me. I was alone for three days on the floor.”

“Get an ambulance and get to the hospital. Walk into oncoming traffic and wave your arms,” she says. “Do not hesitate.”

[From People]

Divorcing your spouse who’s in intense recovery from a stroke is so despicable, this one sentence is the only time I’ll waste on him. I applaud Sharon for raising awareness through her own, hard fought experience, because the advice she shares will be news to someone. The Cleveland Clinic gives the same warning to call 911 immediately. If you’re worried someone is having a stroke in your presence, run through the BE FAST acronym, gauging the person’s facility with Balance, Eyes-Face-Arms movement, Speech, and noting the Time symptoms started. (I’m linking to Cleveland Clinic’s stroke page here, which has more details on how to do BE FAST tests.) I would add that for any suspected head injury, not just stroke, you should go to the doctor immediately. I’ll never forget the lovely Natasha Richardson falling while skiing, but politely declining treatment because she said she felt fine. By the time she felt a headache and finally agreed to go to the hospital, it was too late.

So that’s my PSA courtesy of Sharon Stone with a cameo from the gone-too-soon Natasha Richardson. Now pass it on! (Though maybe not the bit about walking into oncoming traffic; that could end badly.)

Photos credit: Backgrid, Roger Wong/INSTARimages, Darla Khazei/INSTARimages

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8 Responses to “Sharon Stone on having a stroke: don’t ask your friends what to do, call 911”

  1. Scotchy says:

    I had a cryptogenic hypothalamic stroke in 2021 . I am in my mid 40’s and have no health issues hence the cryptogenic which means they have no idea why this happened. They just said “you are a healthy person that just got unlucky”. The wild thing is as a kid I remembered learning about stroke signs from a commercial and so when this was happening I mumbled my speech was slurred and half my face drooping that I though I was having a stroke and my co volunteer called 911 immediately.Unfortunately I was treated horribly by racists paramedics ( I am a black woman) and the hospital did some extremely invasive unnecessary tests, but my stroke cleared up by the time I was in the hospital. I say all this to say my friends just review the signs for strokes and heart attacks for women specifically as our symptoms present differently. When you are a stroke survivor it is something that you tend to talk about. I like to think my brain has rebuilt itself much better this time around( ha ha)

    • Louise says:

      Wow. I am so profoundly sorry you had to deal with all of that. Thank you so much for sharing.

    • Nanea says:

      I am so sorry that you had to experience this awful racism on top of your life-threatening health issues, Scotchy.

      And people are still wondering why we would need not only well-educated but diverse people in healthcare, not mentioning equity and inclusion.

      Echoing your appeal here to educate yourself and those around you about stroke and the BE FAST-test and learn to argue on your/your loved one’s behalf.

      Time is brain.

    • Some info to consider says:

      @Scotchy For people with cryptogenic strokes, there may be additional testing that can reveal a cause. In a young person typically want to leave no stone unturned. If you did not see an excellent *stroke/vascular neurologist* at an academic center, you might consider making an appointment with one to ensure the workup is truly complete by today’s standards and also to review any prior imaging you had. I included some info potential testing info below for your consideration and sincerely hope it is all superfluous to you.

      Sometimes echocardiogram (heart ultrasound) does not reveal a patent foramen ovale (hole between chambers in the heart that can be repaired) and there are different ways they can check for it — if echo was unrevealing then could check with transcranial Doppler (TCD) at an academic center. Also need to rule out pulmonary AVMs (bigger ones can be embolized).

      Blood workups for clotting disorders also can vary by region/hospital, so I would also ask if the thrombophilic blood panel was complete.

      I personally would also ask for a 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring test to see what happens to BP throughout the day and especially the night — BP should dip at night and if it doesn’t, that is a stroke risk factor. Insurance covers it. Not every doctor has the equipment to rent out, but should be available from cardiology department at academic centers, and I would hope a vascular neurologist could access as well.

  2. Flamingo says:

    Wow now I hate Basic Instinct 2 a little less today. I can imagine it was the only project the studio was interested in. For a title cash grab. And she needed the money.

    She is a force of nature and an unlikely movie star. She was already 34 when Basic Instinct came out. And in Hollywood that’s already past your prime as a woman back then.

    And if anyone remember in 2001 Phil Bronstein was at the LA Zoo for a private tour. He was in a cage with a Komodo Dragon. The zookeeper told him to take his white sneakers off since the lizard had just fed on white rats. Then the Dragon proceeded to bite the crap out of his foot and he needed surgery.

    Good, Komodo Dragon, Good Lizard…

  3. Luna says:

    I don’t understand – who did she call? Who left her on the floor for 3 days? Her “friends”? Amazing that she was able to recover despite all of these obstacles — prolonged time to evaluation and treatment, social distress and isolation, and financial distress. I know rich white people have problems, but I wouldn’t have expected a famous actress to have these particular ones (okay, maybe a s***** husband).

    I watched Judy on Netflix a few days ago and her struggles keep coming to my mind. Made me realize I would never ever want to be famous.

  4. JFerber says:

    Sharon Stone looks amazing and I hope she’s living her best life. And she’s right about calling 911. Don’t even hesitate.

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