Last November US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy was announced as one of the leaders of a commission to study the impact of loneliness on all aspects of our well being. This appointment came on the heels of the World Health Organization (WHO) officially labeling loneliness a global issue. Sharon Stone is also working with WHO as an ambassador on this issue. Sharon, proving once again that she’s hotter than she’s ever been! In all sincerity, she’s an empathic advocate and I love that she’s doing this (especially while Hollywood still fumbles over giving her good parts). Sharon recently sat down with Alex Salmond on his Turkish TV show (Salmond is a former Scottish minister, just go with it) and talked about mental health, resilience, being kind to yourself, and bread baking:
Sharon Stone shared her own struggles with mental health in an emotional interview.
“We’re all trying to confront our demons and we’re all acting out — me too,” the actress, 66, told host Alex Salmond during an appearance on Turkish Tea Talk, a news program in Turkey.
The actress, who skyrocketed to fame in the 1992 thriller Basic Instinct, shared that she still struggles with her memory after suffering a stroke in 2001 that led to a near-fatal brain hemorrhage.
“It’s like the life that was this other person, that you can claim as your life but it doesn’t feel like, ‘Oh I was there, I did that.’”
“I didn’t remember all of it for a very long time, and I still don’t remember all of it,” Stone said, “but I get pieces of it back.”
Stone also talked about her work as an ambassador with the World Health Organization, and said that mental health is a problem “on a global level,” which she linked to the start of the Covid pandemic.
“Covid happened and we shut down the world and you had to be with just you,” the Casino star said. “Now that was great for people who wanted to learn to bake bread — the whole world wanted to learn to bake bread, right? Then people wanted to learn other languages. I wanted to get back to my painting.”
“But for those people who don’t like who they got to be with, one in 10 people on a global level are having a mental problem.”
Stone continued, “One in 10 on a global scale can’t handle that already.”
“The possibility of living with who you are as the only solid… people don’t know who they are.”
The mom of three said that the journey to improve mental health “must start with the individual” being kind to themselves while also having accountability for their actions.
“You must stand strong and when you blow it — okay, so what? That was two steps ago,” Stone said.
“You have to get back up and get yourself together and help whoever you think you bumped around, and keep moving forward.”
And, she added, it’s important to express “instant forgiveness for yourself. Instant forgiveness for whoever shoved you down.”
Then, she said, “Get back up and let’s go.”
Not once during the lockdown days of the pandemic did I have the yen to learn how to bake bread or learn a new language. Does that mean there’s something wrong with me? (Don’t answer that). I was in New York for the duration, and it was pretty bleak here in those early months. Even as things changed so rapidly at the beginning, I knew that I could handle being with just me. I’d had a lot of practice at it (stop laughing), and I felt grateful, or lucky even that I had the kind of disposition that would be ok in isolation. Because I knew that wasn’t true for everyone. And what I learned after about two years of not seeing my friends and family in person was how even for me, someone content in her own company, my spirit lit up when with other people.
If you have 26 minutes to spare I highly recommend watching the full interview. Sharon is a trip, and I mean that as the ultimate compliment! She’s fascinating to watch, I think because of the way she straddles that line of “Is she nutty?” or “Is she brilliant?” (The answer is: yes.) The mantra of getting back up is talked about a lot (for good reasons!), but I appreciate Sharon also noting to be kind to yourself, and others, over our stumbles. You’re gonna have some unproofed dough along the way towards mastering your perfect loaf. (At least I think that’s right; I still know nothing about baking bread.)
Photos credit: Jeffrey Mayer / Avalon