Sharon Stone Says She Was Tricked Into Infamous ‘Basic Instinct’ Scene

In the wake of the Me Too movement, many actresses are getting the support that they need to come forward about the behavior of men in power and how it put them in exploited situations. The latest is Sharon Stone, who revealed in her new memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, that she was tricked by director Paul Verhoeven on the set of Basic Instinct in order to film that infamous scene. You know the one. Stone’s Catherine Tramell uncrosses and crosses her legs several times during a police investigation, showing the cops and the audience that she isn’t wearing underwear.

Stone explained that she was told that her private parts would not be visible and was shown the final cut in “a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project,” and she slapped Verhoeven when she was made aware of her nudity. “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,’” reads an excerpt obtained by Vanity Fair.

“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,” Stone explained. After the viewing ended, Stone slapped “Paul across the face, left, went to my car, and called my lawyer, Marty Singer.” Singer informed her the film could not be shown as is due to the Screen Actors’ Guild’s regulations.

“It wasn’t legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion,” she explained. “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? 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.”

Verhoeven denied these allegations in 2017. “Sharon is lying,” he said. “Any actress knows what she’s going to see if you ask her to take off her underwear and point there with the camera.” Stone also outlined other sexist behavior that she was exposed to during Basic Instinct, claiming that she was told by a producer to “f— my costar so that we could have onscreen chemistry.”