Sharon Stone tricked into not wearing underwear for 'Basic Instinct' scene; advised to sleep with co-star

Sharon Stone became a star after her breakout role in "Basic Instinct," an erotic thriller in which she played an alleged serial killer, but the actress has revealed that the filming of the 1992 film was especially difficult for her.

Stone opened up about her career struggles in her new memoir "The Beauty of Living Twice," an excerpt of which has been published by Vanity Fair. In the book, the actress has made a shocking revelation about the most popular and controversial scene from the movie.

The 63-year-old says that she was tricked into not wearing underwear in the infamous cross-legged scene where her character, Catharine Tramell, exposes herself while being interrogated by detectives about the murder of her ex-boyfriend. Stone said that a member of the production team had told her to take her underwear off assuring her that her private area would not be visible on film, and it was only during a preview of the final edit that she came to know about it. On top of it, she watched the scene "with a room full of agents and lawyers, most of whom had nothing to do with the project."

"That was how I saw my vagina-shot for the first time, long after I'd been told, 'We can't see anything—I just need you to remove your panties, as the white is reflecting the light, so we know you have panties on. Yes, there have been many points of view on this topic, but since I'm the one with the vagina, in question, let me say: The other points of view are bulls***. ... It was me and my parts up there," she writes in the memoir.

After realising the manipulation, Stone slapped the film's director Paul Verhoeven across the face, left the premises, and called her lawyer Marty Singer. The lawyer told her that the stunt pulled by the production team wasn't legal, and she informed the same to Verhoeven.

"I let Paul know of the options Marty had laid out for me. Of course, he vehemently denied that I had any choices at all. I was just an actress, just a woman; what choices could I have? But I did have choices. So I thought and thought and I chose to allow this scene in the film. Why? Because it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it," she said.

This was not the only difficulty the Oscar-nominee faced when she played Catherine, a role which she described as the "most stretching" she has done in terms of considering the dark side of myself." "It was terrifying. I had walked in my sleep three times during production, twice waking fully dressed in my car in my garage. I had hideous nightmares," she writes.

The mother-of-three writes about several other upsetting experiences in her career, including one where an unnamed director would constantly demand that she sat on his lap when he was giving instructions.

"This #MeToo candidate called me in to work every day for weeks, when Laird was a brand-new baby, and had me go through the works—hair, makeup, and wardrobe—and then wouldn't shoot with me because I refused to sit in his lap and take direction," she recalled.

Another unnamed producer advised her to sleep with her co-star who was struggling with his scenes so that they could have "onscreen chemistry." She writes: "You guys insisted on this actor when he couldn't get one whole scene out in the test.... Now you think if I f— him, he will become a fine actor? Nobody's that good in bed." She added that this wasn't a one-off incident either, as "sex, not just sexuality onscreen, has long been expected" in the film industry.