Sharon Stone Talks Hollywood Philanthropy at THR's Social Impact Summit

2 weeks ago

The inaugural Social Impact Summit, co-hosted by The Hollywood Reporter and the Social Impact Fund, honored Feeding America as THR's Philanthropic Organization of the Year. Uzo Aduba, Wilson Cruz, Thomas Sadoski and Julie Bowen were among the celebrities who took part in the event. To kick start the summit, actress and longtime activist Sharon Stone shared an expletive-sprinkled keynote address, where she challenged the audience to see philanthropy in a new light: simply that of love.

Transcript

00:00You know, when it comes to philanthropy, which is something that my family and I have been doing

00:09basically our whole lives, I grew up in the country in a very small town, and we didn't

00:16call it philanthropy back there. We called it being a good neighbor. When my dad made $14,000

00:26a year and raised four kids, and we were one of the wealthier families, we thought we were

00:34good. And when the neighbors, you know, a mile down the road with seven or eight kids

00:43and they didn't have food for Thanksgiving or Christmas or gifts, we made it for them

00:51and put together gifts, and I don't know how, and then we wrapped them and then we took

00:59the car and we turned off the engine about a quarter of a mile from their house and drifted

01:05the car up and then we snuck out of the car and put everything on their doorstep. That

01:12wasn't called philanthropy. It was called love. And so I say to you, what is love? Because

01:26I think we're at a time in the world where that is really the question. What is love? And

01:34I think it begins truly with forgiveness. Because for whatever your beliefs may be, whatever you

01:43call the God experience in your life and in your world, the higher power, the love of nature,

01:50the spiritual inclination, that is love. And that energetic feeling is that of self-forgiveness

02:01first. Because we must love ourselves. We must love ourselves to love another. And to love

02:08ourselves wholly and fully, we must forgive ourselves. We must forgive ourselves for even

02:14the unforgivable things that we have done. And by doing that, we must set down our shame.

02:21And we must understand that all of us have been shameful and we have all been shamed. And

02:28we must earn our own self-forgiveness by facing ourselves truly and genuinely. And then to forgive

02:36another, we must stand with them while they face their own shame. And then we must embrace them and

02:43allow them to love their failed humanity as we love our own failed humanity. There have been times in

02:50my life of tremendous trauma. And I begin to believe that the purpose of life itself is to understand

02:59our trauma, survive it, and teach others to do the same. This for me is really what philanthropy is.

03:11In my many years of being a field worker for HIV-AIDS, in the beginning I thought, I am going to find the cure for

03:20AIDS, I will get the money, I will do this thing. I was young. I was young and I really thought,

03:32that Elizabeth Taylor, she got this thing going and look at me, I'm going to wrap it up.

03:37I was so young and I totally fucked up my acting career and messed up what people thought about

03:47me and became this really eccentric, crazy woman who went around the world begging for money and crying

03:55and failing and messing up and hoping and studying in laboratories with scientists and going in

04:02and orphanages with babies and children who had AIDS who were dying and mothers who were going to die

04:09before their children. And I saw the world. And I really learned what philanthropy meant.

04:18And it meant forgiving myself and forgiving others because there were a lot of people to forgive.

04:23While I did that 30-year journey, there were a lot of people who really needed a lot of

04:31fucking forgiveness. And let me tell you, it was really hard to forgive a lot of those motherfuckers.

04:41I've been on my knees a lot. And I will tell you that if you cannot forgive, you cannot serve.

04:57You must learn to forgive. And you must learn to give. And even if you push someone to the ground,

05:04you better learn how to get them back up again. And if even someone pushed you to the ground,

05:09you better reach out and put up your hand and you better let that very same motherfucker pick you up.

05:17Because that is the way the world works. And if you think you are here to do anything else on this

05:23planet, you have not yet learned the meaning of love, the meaning of giving, and the meaning of

05:28philanthropy. And that is why I am your opening speaker.

05:32I will tell you for sure that not everybody has liked me, not everybody has loved me, and not everyone

05:44has forgiven me. But I stand here not in my shame. I stand here in my love. And I love you. And I

05:55thank you. And I am on my knees to ask you to love me back, to love the person next to you. And so I would

06:05like you to turn to the person next to you. And I would like you to look at them. And even if you never

06:13met them, I would like you to forgive them. And accept them. And let them know it. Because that is your

06:25courageous act today. That is your act of philanthropy. Thank you. Goodbye.

Sharon Stone Talks Hollywood Philanthropy at THR's Social Impact Summit | THR Video

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