“Hello. My Name Is Sharon Stone. And I'm 56.”

Dec 16, 2014 11:01 GMT  ·  By
Sharon Stone says owning her age is her secret for looking this good
7 photos
   Sharon Stone says owning her age is her secret for looking this good

Sharon Stone laughs in the face of those who say you’re not allowed to grow old in Hollywood, because she’s made her life goal of growing old. “Hello. My name is Sharon Stone. And I’m 56,” she tells THR in a story that was initially published in the 2014 Women in Entertainment issue of the magazine.

Aging is frowned upon in Tinseltown, which explains why so many over-40 women (and men, too) are starting to look the same after too much Botox, plastic surgery, and fillers. This isn’t a universal rule yet, but still: the dread of the passing of the time is there in everybody, because with age, the roles become fewer in number and smaller, and you get this distinct feeling that you’re drawing closer to the end of your shelf life.

Sharon knows that, but aging can be a conscious choice, like in her case. Aging doesn’t have to be a bad thing, just like acting isn’t the only profession for someone in this line of work.

Owning reality and turning it into an advantage

By stating her age whenever she gets the chance, Sharon is owning a reality that Hollywood chooses to ignore: people get old, people change. Obviously, she doesn’t really care what the “rules” in Hollywood have to say about age, beauty, and everything else, because she knows there’s something more important in life than the desperate and ultimately pointless struggle to live up to a standard that doesn’t represent you.

That something more important is the realization that you could lose it all.  

“I actually find aging a benefit. I don't choose to make growing older a negative. I choose to get older. Growing older is my goal,” Stone says.

“That's because in 2001, I had a massive brain hemorrhage. So I know what the alternative to growing older is. I bled in my brain for nine days. I spent two years learning to walk and talk again. I came home from that stroke stuttering, couldn't read for two years. I was in an ICU for nine days and the survival rate for what I went through is very low. I don't need someone to make me feel bad about growing older. I'll tell you what makes you feel bad: when you think you might not,” she adds.

Stone’s health problems didn’t receive too much media attention (though they did make headlines) because she chose to not have them publicized. The same goes for her recovery period, which has allowed her to emerge as a different woman: one that knows that there are far more dread-inspiring things out there than having some studio executive suggest you get some plastic surgery because you’re starting to look your age.

It all comes from the inside

Still, at 56, Sharon remains one of the most beautiful women in the industry, even though she seems to be making efforts to distance herself from the lot that populates it. She says it herself: whenever she walks into a restaurant, she has 20somethings throwing themselves at her feet.

Some of them do it because they know who she is and they already guess the advantages that will come with dating her, but others know that they would be getting the best time of their life in the sack, Sharon says unabashedly.

Beauty is still beauty with age, but it just manifests itself differently now. “The key to looking good as you get older is, it all comes from the inside,” she says. So the better care you take care of yourself (meaning your body and your soul), the better you’ll look.

When she realized she was the same age as Madonna, Sharon had her trainer investigate what the singer was doing and she wasn’t, so she learned that Madonna doesn’t touch alcohol, so Sharon stopped too.

She eats healthy, she goes to the gym regularly, and she does things she enjoys every day, which she believes is the key to the happiest and most satisfying life: once you start hating things you do (like dieting, or working out, or even your job), your body will betray you even if you keep at it consistently.

As for all those women who fear that aging will ruin their acting careers, Sharon has a very sage word of advice: there’s life after Hollywood, as her example can prove. She’s now writing and producing, and getting involved in all kinds of charities. “And I created that. No one will do that for you. So why not just be alive and free in the truth of what you are?” she says.

Sharon Stone in 2014 (7 Images)

Sharon Stone says owning her age is her secret for looking this good
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