Before Sharon Stone acted, she was an artist -- and she's returned to her first love | The Sitdown

GREENWICH, CONNECTICUT (WABC) -- I was really looking forward to talking to Sharon Stone again and she did not disappoint. Her intelligence is obvious, but so is her formidable courage.

I first met her just before she became the toast of Hollywood in the 1990's, when as she puts it: "acting took over" her life in a "very big way."

She was equal parts sexy and smart. One of her scenes is so memorable it remains vivid in the minds of millions more than 30 years after "Basic Instinct" was released. Stone's role in "Casino" earned her a Golden Globe and an Oscar nomination.

"They had it all. They ran the show," she said in "Casino."

Now, a different kind of show in Connecticut, and a return to a pursuit from childhood, because before the star ever acted she painted.

"What is very different about painting is that it just comes from spirit, and it comes onto the canvas so it's very true. It's very pure," she said.

We met the star at the C. Parker Gallery in Greenwich just before the opening of her show called "Welcome to My Garden." The title reflects the inspiration she found in her California home.

"When COVID happened, I had all this time and started to paint again, and I started to paint ferociously and obsessively," Stone said.

Her bedroom got so crowded with her artwork, that Stone had to relocate to her guesthouse.

"My kids just thought I'd lost my mind," she said.

But "Art News" called her work "wonderful" and the most expensive canvas there costs more than $60,000.

But her real reward is greater peace of mind after decades spent with a hidden disability.

"I had a massive stroke and a brain hemorrhage, and I, as a result of that, I have a brain seizure condition and for many years I tried to mask that condition," she said.

Recently Stone said "no more" hiding.

"And I think painting brought me to that. I think it allowed me to have my own garden, be in myself, be comfortable with me, and know that I'm good enough as I am and feel OK about that," she said.

Stone told me new medication, a time-release formula, helps her better control her seizures, and this medical challenge has not prevented her from spending decades raising money for AIDS research among many other causes. The word that best describes her is "impressive."

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