Sharon Stone reveals she lost $18 million after suffering a stroke

Sharon Stone revealed she lost $18 million in savings after suffering a stroke in 2001. Photo / Getty Images

The actress revealed she was manipulated by those close to her after suffering a near-fatal stroke in 2001, losing millions of dollars in savings as a result.

Sharon Stone lost millions when she suffered a stroke.

The 66-year-old actress had put away a total of $18 million from her lengthy career in film when she suffered a brain haemorrhage but revealed that when she recovered from the near-fatal ordeal, she was left with nothing.

Asked if the stroke had changed the way she thought, she told The Hollywood Reporter: “Totally. One hundred per cent.

“A Buddhist monk told me that I had been reincarnated into my same body. I had a death experience and then they brought me back.

“I bled into my brain for nine days, so my brain was shoved to the front of my face. It wasn’t positioned in my head where it was before.

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“And while that was happening, everything changed. My sense of smell, my sight, my touch. I couldn’t read for a couple of years. Things were stretched and I was seeing color patterns. A lot of people thought I was going to die.

”People took advantage of me over that time. I had $18 million saved because of all my success, but when I got back into my bank account, it was all gone. My refrigerator, my phone – everything was in other people’s names.

“I had zero money.”

The Basic Instinct star - who returned to acting in the late 2000s and has also carved out a second career as a painter - had to learn to “let go” of things and remain in the moment rather than cling to any feelings of resentment.

She said: “I decided to stay present and let go. I decided not to hang onto being sick or to any bitterness or anger. If you bite into the seed of bitterness, it never leaves you. But if you hold faith, even if that faith is the size of a mustard seed, you will survive.

“So, I live for joy now. I live for purpose.”