Sharon Stone Reflects on Stroke Recovery, Medication Changes and Her Pursuit of a Drug-Free Life
The Actress Says Reclaiming Her Health Became a Deeply Personal Journey
Nearly twenty-five years after surviving a life-changing stroke, Sharon Stone has opened up about the difficult health decisions that followed her recovery.
The 68-year-old actress has described how the 2001 medical emergency affected her vision, memory, senses and ability to work. She has also discussed her later decision to stop taking prescribed medication and eventually give up marijuana as part of what she called her pursuit of a “drug-free life.”
Stone’s experience involved years of medical treatment, physical recovery and major adjustments to her daily routine. Her recent comments describe a personal decision made after a long period of living with the consequences of the stroke.
Her account also highlights the seriousness of changing medication, as she described months of severe withdrawal symptoms after stopping treatment that doctors had advised her to continue.
A Medical Emergency That Changed Everything
In 2001, Stone experienced a ruptured vertebral artery that caused bleeding in her brain for nine days. She was reportedly given only a 1% chance of survival.
The emergency forced the Basic Instinct star to step away from acting for approximately two years while she concentrated on recovering.
The effects extended far beyond the initial hospitalization. Stone said the bleeding changed the position of her brain and disrupted several of her senses.
“I had a death experience and then they brought me back. I bled into my brain for nine days, so my brain was shoved to the front of my face,” Stone, 68, told The Hollywood Reporter in 2024.
She described losing abilities that had previously been part of her everyday life.
“It wasn’t positioned in my head where it was before. And while that was happening, everything changed. My sense of smell, my sight, my touch. I couldn’t read for a couple of years. Things were stretched and I was seeing color patterns.”
Her recovery required time, patience and significant changes to the way she approached work and personal responsibilities.
The Stroke Continued Affecting Her Daily Life
Stone later explained that the stroke remained part of her life long after the immediate crisis had ended.
In 2023, she said she required medication intended to prevent seizures and needed eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for the treatment to work properly.
“For a long time, I wanted to pretend that I was just fine,” she said. “I need eight hours of uninterrupted sleep for my brain medication to work so that I don’t have seizures. So, I’m a disability hire, and because of that I don’t get hired a lot. These are the things that I’ve been dealing with…and I am open about that now.”
Her comments revealed that returning to public life did not mean every difficulty had disappeared.
She faced ongoing health requirements while also attempting to rebuild a career in an industry known for demanding schedules and long working days.
Stone said she eventually became more willing to speak honestly about the disability and the practical limits it placed on her professional opportunities.
She Later Chose to Stop Taking Her Medication
Stone recently said that in September 2025, she decided to stop taking medication that had been prescribed after her stroke.
Doctors had apparently warned her that she should not discontinue the treatment.
“They said, ‘You can’t go off of it. You can never go off of it,’” she told Variety. “I’m like, ‘I’m going off it,’ and it was like going off of f***ing heroin.”
Stone described the process as extremely difficult and said she experienced severe sickness for several months.
“I was sick as a frigging dog for four and a half months. I just thought, ‘I want my life back.’ I had gotten off the majority of the drugs over the years that they had put me on.”
Her remarks presented the decision as a deeply personal effort to change how she was living after years of medical treatment.
They also made clear that stopping the medication was not easy or free from consequences.
The Withdrawal Period Lasted for Months
Stone said the physical reaction continued for approximately four and a half months.
Despite feeling unwell, she remained focused on the goal she had set for herself.
“But I was like, ‘I want a drug-free life.’”
Her decision came after years of gradually reducing other medications she had been prescribed following the stroke.
Stone did not describe the experience as a simple change. Instead, she compared it to a prolonged and physically demanding withdrawal.
Her account reflects her own circumstances and the choices she made in relation to her health.
Because her medication had been connected to seizure prevention, her story also demonstrates the seriousness of making changes to long-term treatment.
Personal Loss Influenced Her Thinking
Stone linked her desire for a drug-free life to the loss of people she knew.
While hosting the ART HOUSE Gala in 2023, she reflected on friends who had died after struggling with drug abuse.
“A lot of my friends are dead,” she said, warning guests: “Do not cross the line between health and healing and abuse.”
Her message focused on the distinction between treatment intended to support recovery and patterns of use that become harmful.
The deaths of people close to her appear to have influenced the way she considered her own relationship with substances and long-term medication.
Stone’s comments did not erase the medical reasons treatment had originally been prescribed. Instead, they explained why she became increasingly determined to reassess what she was taking.
She Also Decided to Stop Using Marijuana
After discontinuing the medication, Stone said she made another personal change and stopped smoking marijuana.
She again described becoming seriously unwell during the withdrawal period.
“Once I got off that, I decided I’m going to quit smoking pot,” she told Variety, explaining that withdrawal made her really sick.
She said the reaction lasted for approximately one month.
“And because I think they put so much stuff in it now – they really do – when I stopped smoking pot, I also got sick. It’s not like you’re pulling it out of the ground anymore. It’s not like when we were kids. I got pretty sick for a month.”
Stone presented the experience as another difficult stage in her effort to remove substances from her life.
Her account was based on her own reaction and the conversations she said she had with her neurologist.
Her Neurologist Addressed the Reaction
Stone said her neurologist was not surprised when she described how sick she became after quitting marijuana.
“Sharon, I’ve had people dying in the emergency room from marijuana,” the doctor told the star of Casino.
The statement reinforced the seriousness with which Stone and her doctor viewed the symptoms she experienced.
Her comments also show that she remained in communication with a neurological specialist while discussing the consequences of the changes she had made.
Stone’s story centers on her individual health history, including a major brain injury, seizure concerns and years of medication use.
Her circumstances are therefore highly specific to her own medical experience rather than a general model for how others should approach prescribed treatment.
Recovery Required More Than Physical Healing
The stroke affected Stone’s ability to read, see clearly and process sensory information.
Those difficulties created obstacles not only in her personal life but also in her work as an actress.
After spending years building a successful career, she had to step away during a period when her health demanded nearly all of her attention.
Returning to acting did not mean she could return to exactly the same life she had before 2001.
She needed consistent sleep, continued medical care and a willingness to acknowledge limitations that were not always visible to others.
Stone’s openness about being treated differently in employment also reflected the long-term professional impact of the stroke.
Painting Became a New Creative Focus
After moving through the difficult withdrawal periods, Stone directed more of her energy toward painting.
The creative interest began developing during the COVID-19 lockdown, when she started using art as another form of expression.
What began in her bedroom gradually became a much larger part of her life.
Her three sons, Roan, 26, Laird, 21, and Quinn, 20, eventually encouraged her to relocate her workspace.
Stone described their reaction with humor.
“They come in and they say to me, ‘Mom, we just think that you should wear a bra.’” Stone said. “I’m like, ‘This is the same conversation my dad had with me in the 70s.’ Didn’t work then. Not going to work now. Thanks for your concern. Have a lovely day.”
Although they did not persuade her to change how she dressed while painting, her sons successfully convinced her to move the studio into the guest house.
Her Artwork Reached Galleries
Stone said the new studio gave her more appropriate space to develop her work.
Painting eventually grew beyond a private activity and became another professional chapter.
She said she is now selling her “work in galleries all around the world.”
The development allowed her to build a creative identity outside acting while continuing to explore visual expression.
For someone whose stroke affected sight, touch and the ability to read, the growth of her painting career carries particular significance.
It represents a way of creating that emerged after she had already experienced profound changes in how she perceived the world around her.
Stone Has Also Considered Broadway
Although painting has become an important part of her life, Stone has not closed the door on performing.
She has spoken about wanting to appear on Broadway and has described the current period as one of renewal.
“This has been a period for me in this last year of really reclaiming my life,” she added.
The statement reflects the larger theme running through her recent comments.
After decades of living with the effects of the stroke, prescribed treatment and professional setbacks, Stone wants to define the next stage of her life on her own terms.
That process has included difficult health decisions, months of illness, a commitment to painting and a renewed interest in performing.
A Personal Story of Survival and Reinvention
Stone’s experience began with a medical crisis that reportedly left her with only a 1% chance of survival.
She endured nine days of bleeding in her brain, years of neurological changes and a lengthy interruption to her career.
She later accepted that her condition had created an ongoing disability and began speaking more openly about the challenges attached to it.
Her decision to stop medication was made despite doctors’ advice and was followed by months of severe symptoms.
She then stopped using marijuana and experienced another period of illness.
Stone’s account does not portray these choices as simple. Her own words emphasize how physically difficult the process became.
Her Focus Has Shifted Toward the Future
Today, Stone appears focused on building a life shaped by creativity, independence and renewed purpose.
Painting has provided a substantial outlet, while the possibility of Broadway offers another potential direction.
Her sons remain involved in her life, offering both practical advice and humorous commentary as her artwork expands into larger spaces.
The actress continues to carry the effects of the stroke, but she no longer wants those effects to define the entire story of her life.
Her recent reflections describe a woman attempting to reclaim control after surviving an event that changed her body, career and daily routine.
Stone’s determination is rooted in survival, personal loss and the belief that this period can become a new beginning rather than simply an extension of the medical crisis she experienced in 2001.
Her journey remains personal, complicated and closely connected to a health history unlike anyone else’s.
What stands out most is the length of that journey: nearly twenty-five years after the stroke, Stone is still adapting, creating and deciding what reclaiming her life means for her now.