This story contains graphic details of sexual harassment.
Sharon Stone is opening up about a 1980s meeting with a Sony boss that left her “hysterical.”
During Wednesday’s episode of Kelly Ripa’s “Let’s Talk Off Camera” podcast, the “Basic Instinct” star recounted experiencing sexual harassment in the entertainment industry when she was in her early 20s and a fresh Los Angeles transplant. According to Stone, a former head of Sony invited her to his office for a professional meeting, then exposed his penis and suggested that an act of quid pro quo could make her a star.
“I’d been here a couple of years and I wore my best outfit,” Stone said of her visit to Sony. “I still remember so clearly because when you’re young, you have just your one good outfit.”
Stone, wearing her Ralph Lauren jacket with a ruffled denim skirt and cowboy boots, went to his office and sat on the couch, which was low to the floor, per the era’s trends.
“He is pacing around the office,” she said, and he began showering her with compliments. “It’s true what they say about you, you’re the most gorgeous. We haven’t seen anyone like you in decades. Everybody’s talking about you and look at you. You’re the most articulate. You’re so smart and beautiful and … blah blah, blah.
“Then he came walking right up in front of me and he said, ‘But first,’ and he took his penis right out in my face,” she said. “And of course I was very young and what I do when I’m nervous … I started laughing and crying at the same time and I couldn’t stop because I became hysterical.”
Stone said the executive left through a door behind his desk, and his secretary eventually appeared and escorted Stone from the building. “But this was not the last of many weird experiences like this in my career” she added.
The Oscar-nominated actor said that during #MeToo, without naming the executive, she publicly called on him to apologize. “You know who you are,” she recalled saying. “If you want to come to me and say sorry, I will accept you. I will accept your apology.”
Stone has not named the former Sony boss, and Sony Pictures did not immediately respond to The Times’ request for comment.
Resources for survivors of sexual assault
If you or someone you know is the victim of sexual violence, you can find support using RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline. Call (800) 656-HOPE or visit online.rainn.org to speak with a trained support specialist.
