Sharon Stone became emotional while revealing just how desperate life became before Hollywood fame, admitting she once helped steal food because she could not afford to eat.
The 68-year-old Basic Instinct and Casino star opened up about her struggling years in New York City during the September 30 episode of IMO, the podcast hosted by former first lady Michelle Obama and her brother, Craig Robinson.
Stone said she arrived in New York as a teenager with little more than a suitcase, $50 and an enormous belief that she was going to make something of herself.
But behind that optimism was a far harsher reality.
“I went with $50. I had $50 and a suitcase,” Stone recalled.
The Pennsylvania native described herself as a “country bumpkin” who headed to New York determined to break into modeling. Her mother had encouraged her after seeing her appear on The Merv Griffin Show, and Stone eventually pursued work with legendary modeling agency founder Eileen Ford.
Stone said she was thrilled to be chasing her dream despite living in what she described as “extreme poverty.”
“I was so excited and thrilled, and I was just gonna make it,” she said.
Her determination, however, did not make everyday life any easier.
Stone said money was so scarce that she bought a pair of secondhand roller skates because she could not afford to regularly take taxis or even the subway.
She then used the skates to travel across Manhattan for modeling appointments.
“I bought roller skates at a thrift store because I couldn’t afford cabs or subways,” Stone recalled. “And I roller-skated top to bottom of New York.”
She also developed another unusual survival routine.
Stone said she checked public telephone booths for coins that other people had left behind, collecting whatever dimes, nickels and quarters she could find.
“Every phone booth, I hit every phone booth to collect change and found a lot of change,” she said.
But the actress became visibly emotional when she revealed that there were times when she and her roommate were so hungry that they resorted to stealing food.
Stone said she would distract a cashier while her roommate took food.
“I’m embarrassed about it now,” Stone said before explaining what happened.
As she recounted the memory, Stone began crying.
“I’m ashamed, I’m embarrassed,” she said.
Stone later repeated the admission even more plainly.
“I distracted the cashier so that we could steal food to eat,” she said.
Obama and Robinson immediately tried to reassure her.
“Oh my gosh, you were surviving,” Obama told Stone.
Robinson also urged the actress not to carry shame over something she did while struggling to feed herself.
“Please don’t be ashamed,” he said.
Stone explained that the memory has remained with her decades later and has influenced the way she approaches charity and helping other people.
“It’s a big part of why I give back,” Stone said. “I want to give back way more than I took.”
She again became emotional while explaining why.
“Because I’m embarrassed and ashamed that I stole what I did,” she said. “I stole to eat.”
Obama pushed back against Stone’s guilt, telling her that desperation can lead otherwise good people into situations they never imagined.
“Here you are, a kid in New York starting out in the modeling career,” Obama said. “This is how people get desperate. And how bad things happen to good people.”
She encouraged Stone to tell that portion of her story rather than hide it.
“I think it’s important for you to tell the story of who you had to be,” Obama said. “There isn’t shame in it.”
Stone admitted that discussing such a painful chapter of her life in front of Obama made the moment especially emotional.
“That’s a lot to say in front of you, because I admire you so much,” she said.
The conversation also turned to the advantages Stone had while trying to break into modeling.
Obama noted that Stone was fortunate to be “pretty” and “white,” an observation Stone quickly agreed with.
“So lucky,” Stone responded.
Eventually, the gamble on New York paid off.
Stone said she reached a point in her modeling career where she was making as much as $5,000 per day and became part of Ford’s high-level “Special Bookings” operation.
Her modeling career ultimately opened the door to acting.
Stone worked in film throughout the 1980s before gaining wider attention opposite Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1990’s Total Recall. Two years later, Basic Instinct turned her into one of the most recognizable actresses in Hollywood.
Her performance in Martin Scorsese’s 1995 crime drama Casino earned her a Golden Globe and an Academy Award nomination for best actress.
That extraordinary rise makes Stone’s latest revelation particularly striking.
Long before the movie premieres, magazine covers and multimillion-dollar Hollywood career, she said she was a young woman counting abandoned coins in phone booths, roller-skating between appointments and worrying about where her next meal would come from.
And despite everything that followed, Stone made clear that those memories have never completely disappeared.
Instead, she said they became part of the reason she feels such a strong obligation to give something back.
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