Stone talks about near-death experience

Sharon Stone had a "white light" experience when she suffered a brain haemorrhage in 2001.

The 'Basic Instinct' actress had the near-fatal haemorrhage while she was still married to ex-husband Phil Bronstein and she claims she felt what it was like to die before she came back and insists the experience changed her view on life completely.

She said: "My head blew up. It was almost as if I was shot. I had two unbelievably painful shots in the left side of my head that physically knocked me over on to the couch.

"I called Phil and said: 'I think I've had a stroke!' I was haemorrhaging into my brain for 11 days before they found out what was going on.

"Yes, I had a 'white light' experience. It was a very beautiful and illuminating experience. It was a very profound thing to come back."

The 54-year-old star - who has three sons, Roan, 12, Laird, seven, and six-year-old Quinn - also says her experience, as well as going through a divorce, made her unafraid to fail.

Instead, the screen beauty is determined to embrace every challenge she encounters whether she is successful or not.

She told the Daily Mirror newspaper: "You don't go through all I've been through and come back and go on with your career unless you're going to take some very big challenges.

"I feel OK and I can do it. I also don't care if I fail because what's failure? I failed at the biggest things there are in life.

"I failed in my health, I failed in my marriage, I failed in everything and I've picked myself up and gone on. I was really lucky not to die."