The actor-turned-activist highlighted the opioid crisis while emceeing the Wednesday ART HOUSE Gala in Nan Goldin’s honor.
Sharon Stone is speaking out against drug use, whether it is prescribed or not.
The actor and campaigner for the movies centered her address at the ART HOUSE Gala honoring Nan Goldin on Wednesday on the alleged drug pushing she allegedly encountered while her kid was being treated for a skiing accident in the hospital.
“In the late ’70s and early ’80s, I worked as a model in New York. I was at Studio 54 quite a bit. Many of my pals have passed away.” Stone, 65, at The Bowery drew attention to the medical plight by saying, “Don’t f— with me.”
“Do not cross the line between health, healing, and abuse,” the Casino celebrity continued. “My brother crossed the border and ended up in Attica [Prison].”
Earlier in her speech, Stone mentioned how she had to continually persuade medical personnel to stop giving her kid OxyContin.
The opioid-classified medicine carries a considerable risk of dependence and addiction. With the opioid epidemic in the United States well-documented and the number of overdose deaths from the drug continuing to grow, the subject has become incredibly divisive.
“Over the course of the following day and a half, I had to have it re-inserted in his chart at every single trip. Please read it back to me, if possible. I received six calls over the day and a half it took for him to have a rod and seven pins placed in his leg. Four nurses, an anesthesiologist, doctors, and others who had nothing to do with my son’s condition all explained to me why my son required OxyContin and that no other medication would suffice. No more drugs!”
Stone went on to ask, “Anaphylaxis? Not really that awful! Just how awful is it? When he turns 18, I genuinely believe he can decide for himself. I’m going on CNN tomorrow, and if I get another call, I’m going to say that your hospital is a drug cartel,” after the sixth call.
“I don’t think Nan or I are against painkillers. Not us. We oppose paid drug traffickers,” she continued.
Prescription Addiction Intervention Now (PAIN) creator Nan Goldin is well known for her work raising awareness of the HIV/AIDS crisis, the opioid crisis, and LGBTQ+ populations. The inaugural dinner and auction for Bailey House on Wednesday generated funds to fight AIDS and homelessness in New York City.
“I lost my entire community. Nobody was aware of this condition at first. They referred to it as gay cancer. I try to keep my people alive,” Goldin, 69, told the audience.
In collaboration with Goldin, Stone hasn’t been afraid to speak up on a number of issues, such as the AIDS crisis, which she claims “nearly destroyed” her career in the 1990s when so few people were talking about it.
In 2021, the women’s rights champion — who continuously fights back against the double standards women face with aging and sexism — told Variety about her “extreme feminist” father and how he instilled these values in her.
“He came from wealth, oil drilling, and when he was little, there was a huge accident. His father died three months later, and all the money went to another family,” Stone remembered.
She continued, “He thought it was so wrong that his mother didn’t get half of it just because she was a woman. My dad was insistent that I have this feminist attitude. So much so that I never thought of myself as a feminist. These were the rules of my household.”
Stone became a mom in 2000 when she and her then-husband Phil Bronstein adopted their first child, son Roan, 23. In 2005, she adopted her second son, Laird, 18, followed by her third son, Quinn, 16, a year later.
The Silver actress has been open about the several tragedies she’s endured throughout her life — both before and after becoming a mother — including multiple miscarriages.
“We, as females, don’t have a forum to discuss the profundity of this loss. I lost nine children by miscarriage,” Stone commented on a PEOPLE Instagram post in 2022. “It is no small thing, physically nor emotionally, yet we are made to feel it is something to bear alone and secretly with some kind of failure.”
Despite her hardships, including losing her beloved brother Patrick in February, Stone continues to see her life experiences as lessons.
“I’ve survived everything — sexual harassment, miscarriages, a brain bleed, divorce, a lightning strike,” Stone said in an interview with AARP in April 2021. “I don’t have time to fool around. I’m here to be a healthy and present parent, a good daughter, and an engaged citizen. Everything else is just a distraction.”
