Sharon Stone Made SO MUCH LESS Than Michael Douglas For Basic Instinct! Insane!!

Another day, another unfortunate story of the gender wage gap…

Sharon Stone rose to international superstardom when she portrayed Catherine Tramell in 1992’s hit erotic thriller Basic Instinct, but despite becoming a household name through her work in the Paul Verhoeven flick, she didn’t get paid nearly as much as you’d expect. She had already made a bit of a name for herself through television commercials and various films throughout the 80s, including Irreconcilable Differences and Cold Steel, but the several roles she had under her belt didn’t help her pay.

The 65-year-old said earlier this month in a speech at the Women’s Cancer Fund‘s fundraiser she’s lost “half” of her money during the Silicon Valley Bank collapse — and apparently it’s not the first time she’s been short-charged. On Tuesday at the New York Women In Film & Television’s 43rd annual Muse Awards luncheon, she told TV execs about the absolutely ridiculous pay differences between her and Basic Instinct co-star Michael Douglas:

“I put in my contract that I could keep the clothes. People thought I was crazy, but the truth is I wasn’t getting paid much compared to my male co-star. I made $500,000; Michael made $14 million. So keeping my costumes was a really smart thing to do.”

Only $500k for a leading role? Compared to Michael’s $14 million?! Whoa…

Not only was she not paid as much as she deserved, apparently Paul kept calling her “Karen” by mistake:

“Even at the Governor’s Ball [after the Oscars], he still called me ‘Karen!’ And, I carried that humiliation really deeply within me — even though my name wasn’t on the poster.”

Ugh. So disrespectful! Her name might not have been on the poster, but SHE was. Hell, Sharon sitting in that chair with her legs crossed became nearly more iconic than the film itself! Would it kill him to know his leading lady’s first name?

At least she got to keep her costume — but she hasn’t even touched it since she last wore it in the film. According to the Emmy winner, she’s kept her famous white dress right where she left it 30 years ago:

“It was zipped up in a garment bag on the set, and it has never been opened since. I broke the zipper, so it’s hermetically sealed like a piece of art or a very cool time capsule.”

What an awesome time capsule! We’d love to see her try it on again for a photoshoot one day. Or maybe she could just auction it off and get the rest of her deserved pay from the movie…

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[Image via Joseph Marzullo/WENN]