Boundaries—and the intricate barriers of fame—have been top of mind recently, helping to resurface comments that legendary Hollywood actress Sharon Stone made last year.
“Everybody really likes you when you do everything everyone asks and tells you to do,” she said. “Nobody likes you when you have boundaries.”
Stone, best known for her star turn in 1992’s Basic Instinct, gave those eerily prescient words of wisdom during an appearance on the LadyGang podcast in November 2023.
Fast-forward to earlier this month, when 26-year-old starlet Chappell Roan made headlines for her loud rebuking of the trappings of fame. She lashed out against fans’ expectations for photos, autographs, and access.
“I don’t agree with the notion that I owe a mutual exchange of energy, time, or attention to people I do not know, do not trust, or who creep me out, just because they’re expressing admiration,” the singer said in an August TikTok. “Women do not owe you a reason why they don’t want to be touched or talked to.”
“I understand that this is jarring to hear from a person in my position,” Roan continued in a follow-up Instagram post. “I’m not afraid of the consequences for demanding respect… Why is a girl expressing her fears and boundaries so infuriating?”
Stone, one of the most prominent actresses of the 1990s, made a similar point last year, as she considered her career trajectory and how her sensibilities toward her fame and self-image have changed.
“I had to learn to grow some boundaries,” Stone, now 66, told the LadyGang podcast hosts. “The more that I understood what boundaries really meant, the less people started to like me—and the more I understood how fantastic, and healthy that was.”
It’s a revelation Stone has spoken about for years now.
“[I’m starting to] really look at my bottom-line boundaries,” she told Vogue in 2021. “When people are crossing them and then they start acting out, I say, ‘Here are my boundaries and they’re just not going to shift. This is how I feel about you. This is what I hope will happen. I’m happy to help you with whatever is bothering you, but I can’t do that if you don’t tell me. Your responsibility here would be to tell me. If you tell me, I can help you. If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you. If we don’t resolve it, then I guess you’re going to have to blow up.’”
After filming Basic Instinct, Stone told InStyle magazine in February, people found it “arrogant and dismissive” when she maintained any amount of boundaries on set.
But her boundaries nonetheless are an integral part of her life. “I found limits; there’s a limit to me,” Stone told reporter Mattie Kahn. “For so long, everybody wanted me to be all things to all people because I was the limitless Sharon Stone. F**k that bulls**t.”
That’s a lesson everyone can learn—whether they’re an office worker or a glitzy Hollywood star.