Sharon Stone couldn't afford a dress for the Oscars following her starring role in Basic Instinct.

Sharon Stone

Sharon Stone

The 63-year-old actress shot to fame thanks to her work on the 1992 thriller but she's recalled how she was in a "weird limbo" afterwards as she became a household name but barely had any money as she was paid a fraction of the sum that went to her co-star Michael Douglas.

Speaking on CBC's 'Q With Tom Power', she said: "I didn't get paid to do 'Basic Instinct'. I made a little bit of money. Michael made $14 million and has points. I made not enough money to buy my dress to go to the Oscars the next year. I was in this weird limbo where I was suddenly famous, but didn't have any money."

Sharon didn't reveal her exact salary but it's previously been reported she earned $500,000 for the film.

The blonde beauty recalled how dramatically her life changed and admitted it was hard because she couldn't pay for personal security.

Asked how her life changed when the movie came out, she said: "It's Friday and you're you. Tuesday, you're the Beatles. People are climbing all over your car. You try to walk down the street and suddenly 30 people that were shopping are running, chasing you."

And on whether she could afford private security, she admitted: "I didn't have what I needed."

A month after the movie came out, Sharon went to the Cannes Film Festival, which she branded "insanity" and revealed all her belongings were stolen.

She said: "I got back to the hotel and all of my belongings had been stolen except the clothes on my back. My contact lenses, my film out of my camera, my toothbrush — everything was gone."

And hotel staff had to improvise when it came to getting her out of the building without security.

She explained: "The bodyguards got all the kitchen staff and all the busboys to come up and they created this big circle that I and my two girlfriends were inside of and then they try to take me through the lobby.

"'There were so many people, hundreds of people, pulling at us and going berserk. So this was our introduction, 'Hello, you're famous.' We had no idea."

The 'Casino' star was desperate to speak to someone about her situation, so her chiropractor arranged for Shirley MacLaine to call her and they arranged to meet.

She said: "I drove out to Malibu, and we had dinner on trays sitting on the floor in front of her fireplace. I've never been so happy in my life to have someone understand that I needed to be on the floor.

"I needed that feeling of being grounded. I needed someone who understood that I needed to sit on the floor, and be in my bare feet, and just have someone talk to me like a human being."

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