LOS ANGELES — Sharon Stone isn’t going to let a little thing like potential financial collapse keep her from a night she believes in.
The “Basic Instinct” star spoke Thursday night after she was presented with the Courage Award by the Women’s Cancer Research Fund. It was all part of “An Unforgettable Evening,” the Hollywood Reporter said, a gala fundraiser for the foundation held at the Four Seasons Beverly Wilshire in Beverly Hills, featuring entertainment by a little group called Maroon 5.
Stone pulled no punches in pushing the crowd to donate more money. “You know, your shoes cost more than you gave, and you know it,” she said sternly. “The next ‘thing’ you want to do costs more than you gave. And you know it.
“And I’m telling you what,” she continued, her voice starting to crack with emotion. “My friends are worth more than you gave. And you know it.”
After calling attention to people in the room who had lost loved ones to cancer, she earned a laugh when she acknowledged that the “thing you have to get on and figure out how to text the money” — presumably an app? — was difficult. But she didn’t do it to cut anyone slack in the donation department.
“I’m a technical idiot. But I can write a f— check,” Stone said, deadpan in the face of hoots and hollers, her comedic timing on point. “And right now, that’s courage, too, because I know what’s happening. I just lost half my money to this banking thing, and that doesn’t mean that I’m not here.”
The actor appeared to be alluding to the collapse last week of Silicon Valley Bank and the shuttering of Signature Bank, and the market turmoil that followed. While the federal government has pledged that all bank depositors will get their money back, it has been a trip into the unknown for many.
The Courage Award recipient noted the recent loss of her brother Patrick to a heart attack last month as another challenge, adding that it was a hard time in the world for everyone.
Stone was told she had breast cancer and opted to have one breast removed along with half of the other, and then wound up with unauthorized breast enlargement from her reconstruction. Later, she learned that her massive tumors had been benign.
“Don’t ever feel compelled not to get a mammogram, not to get a blood test, not to get surgery because it doesn’t matter,” she said. “I’m standing here telling you I had one and a half and more tissue of my breasts removed and none of you knew it.”
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