Sharon Stone says she was misled into removing underwear for Basic Instinct scene

In a new memoir The Beauty of Living Twice, actress Sharon Stone opened up about inappropriate experiences she endured throughout her career.

In an excerpt obtained by Vanity Fair, the 63-year-old said that a member of the Basic Instinct production told her to remove her underwear during the notorious cross-legged scene, maintaining that her private area would not be visible on film.

Stone said she was asked to watch the final cut of the movie "with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project".

"That was how I saw my vagina – shot for the first time, long after I'd been told, 'We can't see anything – I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on,'" she wrote. "Yes, there have been many points of view on this topic, but since I'm the one with the vagina, in question, let me say: The other points of view are bulls*** … It was me and my parts up there."

After the viewing, Stone said she slapped director "Paul [Verhoeven] across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer".

Singer reportedly informed Stone that the movie could not be made, according to the Screen Actors Guild. "It wasn't legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion," Singer told the actress. 

"I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have?" she recalled. "But I did have choices. So I thought and thought and I chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it."

The actress said she felt the need "to become objective" as to why she was misled into removing her underwear especially since she worked so hard to get the part and "only this director had stood up for me".

"I can say that the role was by far the most stretching that I had ever done in terms of considering the dark side of myself," she revealed. "It was terrifying. I had walked in my sleep three times during production, twice waking fully dressed in my car in my garage. I had hideous nightmares."

Stone said, "For the first time, I was asking to learn how to know something new. I was asking for the world to change. I was asking for permission to say why.

"Do you have any idea how many people have watched Basic Instinct in the last 20-something years? Think about it. It's about more than just a peek up my skirt, people," she added.

In the memoir, Stone also recalled instances of being approached by producers about having sex with her co-stars.  

She wrote, "I had actor approval in my contract. No one cared. They cast who they wanted. To my dismay, sometimes. To the detriment of the picture, sometimes."

The actress recalled one producer who brought her into his office, and "explained to me why I should f*** my co-star so that we could have onscreen chemistry". 

"You guys insisted on this actor when he couldn't get one whole scene out in the test," Stone said she remembered thinking at the time. "Now you think if I f*** him, he will become a fine actor? Nobody's that good in bed.

"I felt they could have just hired a co-star with talent, someone who could deliver a scene and remember his lines," she continued. "It was my job to act and I said no."

Stone added that the actor "did make a few haphazard passes at me in the upcoming weeks", which she suspect he may have been "spurred on" by the producer.

Stone also shared another incident where she was asked to get intimate with another actor.  

"I've had other producers on other films just come to my trailer and ask, 'So, are you going to f*** him, or aren't you? … You know it would go better if you did,'" she recalled. "Sex, not just sexuality onscreen, has long been expected in my business."

The Beauty of Living Twice memoir goes on sale on Mar 30.