Sharon Stone Reveals She Didn't Receive 'Respect' For Her 'Basic Instinct' Leg-Crossing Scene

Sharon Stone reflects on her iconic "Basic Instinct" role, revealing early tension with co-star Michael Douglas and initial reluctance from him to work with her.

Their rocky start added authenticity to their onscreen chemistry. Despite her legal rights to remove the racy leg-crossing scene from the film, she chose to keep it, understanding its impact.

In her new memoir, Sharon Stone recalls being misled about the shot's exposure but ultimately accepted it, believing it served the story and solidified her as an "icon."

Reflecting on her iconic and controversial leg-crossing scene in "Basic Instinct," Stone says she wouldn't change a thing, even though she legally could have had it removed.

In a conversation with Business Insider, the famous actress admitted, "It made me an icon, but it didn't bring me respect."

She explained, "I very much believe that none of us knew at the time what we were getting in regard to that shot, and when [director] Paul [Verhoeven] got it, he didn't want to lose it, and he was scared to show me. And I get that."

"I didn't make him take it out of the movie when I had the legal right to," Stone continued. "So I did have the chance to do it differently, and I didn't because once I had the chance to step back, I understood, as the director, not the girl in the film, that that made the movie better."

In her memoir "The Beauty of Living Twice," Stone opened up more candidly about her initial reaction to the now-famous scene.

"First, at that time, this would give the film an X rating," the Emmy award-winning actress explained, per Fox News. "Remember, this was 1992, not now, when we see erect p-nises on Netflix."

She also noted that, according to her lawyer Marty and guidelines from the Screen Actors Guild, "it wasn't legal to shoot up my dress in this fashion. Whew, I thought."

Stone continued: "After the screening, 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?"

In her memoir, Stone recounted a pivotal moment on the "Basic Instinct" set, where she was told to remove her underwear for technical reasons.

According to her, the team assured her, "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."

She complied, trusting the reasoning, only to later discover just how revealing the shot was.

Despite the surprise, Stone ultimately chose to let the moment remain in the film because "it was correct for the film and for the character; and because, after all, I did it."

Stone also revealed to Business Insider that she was nearly passed over for the iconic role of Catherine Tramell.

Michael Douglas, her co-star, reportedly resisted working with an unknown actress.

"Everyone they went out to would turn it down," she explained. "But the thing was, Michael Douglas did not want to put his bare a-s out on the screen with an unknown — and I understood that."

Stone continued, "He wouldn't even test with me, but that was also for a different reason: We had an argument prior to that."

Stone recalled her first interaction with Douglas, long before "Basic Instinct," when they met at the Cannes Film Festival. She remembered calling him out after he commented on someone she knew personally.

"So I said something and he responded to me, saying, 'What the f-ck do you know?'" Stone recalled. "So he screams this at me across a whole group of people. And I'm not the person who goes, 'Oh, excuse me, superstar.' I pushed back my chair and said to him, 'Let's step outside.' That's how we first met."

According to Stone, they did step outside, where she explained to him what the "f-ck she knew."

"And then we parted," the actress stated, per Insider. "I wouldn't say as best friends, but amicably."

Looking back, Stone believes that rocky introduction may have influenced his reluctance to have her cast opposite him, "Fast forward to casting 'Basic Instinct,' I don't think he wanted me to be his co-star."

But in hindsight, the "Casino" actress credits that early tension with adding authenticity to their dynamic in the film.

"It worked great because I was not rattled if he yelled at me," she explained. "That was interesting for the character because Michael has a temper, and I didn't care. That worked very well in our dynamic."