I was paid much less even after 'Basic Instinct': Sharon Stone

Los Angeles: Actress Sharon Stone is the latest actress to voice her opinion on gender and wage gap issue in Hollywood, saying she was paid much less than any men even after her breakthrough role in "Basic Instinct".

The 57-year-old actress, an advocate for women's rights, recalled the time she had difficulty landing an acting job after starring in the 1992 erotic thriller, reported People magazine.

"After 'Basic Instinct', no one wanted to pay me. I remember sitting in my kitchen with my manager and just crying and saying I'm not going to work until I get paid," Stone said.

She added, " I still got paid so much less than any men."

Stone further said that the issue extends beyond the movie industry in Hollywood, saying that change, "has to start with regular pay, not just for movie stars, but regular pay for the regular woman in the regular job."

She recalled being a struggling actress and working the tables as waitress early in her career.

"I waited tables and scrubbed floors and everything else on the way up, and you must make the same, and it's not cool that you don't.

"More than 50 per cent of marriages end in divorce and the women are working and taking care of their kids and that's how it goes and you have to say 'Yes' because you have to feed your children. It's a sort of economic blackmail."