BY FIORELLA VALDESOLO | VOGUE
Most celebrities are guarded in media interviews: They abide by talking points, they avoid personal topics, they hedge…a lot. Sharon Stone is not one of those celebrities.
Two decades suffering a life-threatening stroke in 2001, one that resulted in a nine-day brain bleed and left her with what doctors said was only a 1% chance of survival after surgery, Stone has recently become unapologetically candid about her own health journey, the devastating ripple effect it has had on her career, and the power of advocacy. Stone wants everyone to pay attention to her story, but especially women who are significantly more at risk for similar brain incidents, explains Michael Lawton, MD, a neurosurgeon at Barrow Neurological Institute in Arizona and the doctor Stone credits with saving her life. “There’s a definite tilt towards women with this disorder,” says Lawton, who says that about two-thirds of patients with brain aneurysms are women.
