Sharon Stone shares powerful message about sexual abuse on Good Morning Britain

Sharon Stone has made an impassioned speech on Good Morning Britain about sexual abuse, calling for increased communication on the sensitive issue. 

The Oscar-nominated actor spoke candidly on the #MeToo movement during her appearance on the ITV breakfast show on Monday, emphasizing the prevalence of sexual harassment and abuse in our society. 

“I don’t think ‘Me Too’ is a Hollywood issue, I don’t think sexual abuse is a Hollywood issue,” she told presenters Susanna Reid and Adil Ray. “I think it begins in homes, both rich and poor." 

Sharon, who claimed she was tricked into removing her underwear for the iconic Basic Instinct film scene in her memoir, The Beauty of Living Twice, knows all too well the double standards experienced by girls and women in our patriarchal system. She is now calling on governments to introduce more education on the issue and to implement stricter protocols for dealing with sexual crimes. The first step, she argues, is to talk about it. 

“I think that the lack of communication is certainly a global one,” she said. “I think that rape kits need to be processed. I think that elementary schools, nursery schools, need to have places where kids can say how they feel and what’s going on… I think we need to have better communication in courtrooms about how we treat victims of these kinds of crimes.”

Sharon condemned our current understanding of the issue as ‘impoverished’, calling for urgent changes in the research and public discourse on sexual abuse. 

“I believe that think tanks need to be made so that we have a better understanding of what all of this means and that we can address it more fruitfully, more thoughtfully, more compassionately in the legal system,” she said. “I think that we are impoverished in our understanding of how to address these issues.”

Sharon's moving speech on ITV comes just days after the network was forced to cancel the Viewpoint finale amid Noel Clarke sexual harassment and bullying allegations, which have been made by 20 women. 

On the other side of the pond, a number of high profile US celebrities have also been accused of crimes against women. Evan Rachel Wood named Marilyn Manson as her abuser in a powerful Instagram post this February, in which she claimed the singer physically and emotionally tortured her for years. Esmé Blanco, star of Game of Thrones, also accused Marilyn Manson of abuse, calling him a “monster who almost destroyed me and almost destroyed so many women.” The rock musician is just one of many men in the entertainment industry accused of using their power to exploit women. 

The Woody Allen sexual abuse allegations were also explored by his adopted daughter in the HBO documentary, Allen v. Farrow. The filmmaker was accused of sexual molestation by Dylan Farrow, who claims he developed an “intense affection” towards her and would touch her inappropriately as a child. Allen's representatives have denied the allegations in the film, calling it “riddled with falsehoods”.