Sharon Stone’s controversial comments on working with Meryl Streep have gone viral

Sharon Stone shared her thoughts on how Meryl Streep being lauded as Hollywood's greatest living actress is harmful to other women in the industry. 

She holds a record of 21 Academy Awards nominations and is known for roles as diverse as chilly magazine editor Miranda Priestly in the Devil's Wears Prada and late Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher in The Iron Lady. So it's understandable why Meryl Streep is forever being labeled as the actress who everyone wants to work with. 

But it's a label that Sharon Stone—who starred alongside Streep in The Laundromat—is frankly sick of hearing. 

In a controversial new interview that's sending the internet into a tailspin, Sharon lamented Hollywood's tradition of constantly pitting women against each other. 

Speaking to Zoomer last month following the release of her new memoir The Beauty of Living Twice, Sharon was asked by reporter Johanna Schneller about how she "finally got to work with Meryl Streep". 

But the phrasing of the question irked Stone, and she took the opportunity to explain why the idolization of Streep is a problem for other women in Hollywood. 

"I like the way you phrase that, that I finally got to work with Meryl Streep," she said, stopping Schneller mid-question. "You didn't say, 'Meryl finally got to work with Sharon Stone.' Or we finally got to work together."

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She continued, "The way you structured the question is very much the answer to the question. The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one. And everyone should compete against Meryl."

Sharon was careful to emphasize her admiration for Meryl, adding, "I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress. But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses equally as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women."

Unsurprisingly, the internet was quick to react to the interview—with many Twitter users praising Sharon's candid comments.

"Sharon Stone is right there are actors equally talented as Meryl Streep. It has nothing to do with being overrated it shows the film industry for too long did not give more actresses the material Streep was given," wrote one Twitter user.

While another said, "It's truly depressing that Sharon Stone saying, 'Look Meryl Streep is a good actress but also other actresses are talented too' is some controversial take."

Sharon herself took to the platform to clarify her comments, telling her 212,000 plus following, "To be clear; Meryl Streep is one of the greatest actors of all times. Just not to the exclusion of others."

This isn't the first time the 63-year-old actor has spoken out about Hollywood's entrenched misogyny. Back in March, she sat down with Oprah Winfrey to discuss her experience of ageism in the film industry. 

 “I think when we’re 40, as women, we get to this incredibly powerful place, and it's the time, I have to say, that I believe the white male society starts to tell women, ‘You don’t have worth," she told Oprah.