Sharon Stone says she was paid just $500,000 for her role in 'Basic Instinct' while Michael Douglas earned $14 million

• Sharon Stone said that she made $13.5 million less than her "Basic Instinct" costar Michael Douglas.
• "I was new. I was new and he was a very big star," she said at an event this week, per Page Six.
• Stone also said that a line producer called her Karen throughout the "entirety of the film."

Sharon Stone has said that she made $13.5 million less than her "Basic Instinct" costar Michael Douglas.

"Michael Douglas made $14 million. Now, I was new. I was new and he was a very big star," she said while delivering a speech at the New York Women In Film & Television's 43rd annual Muse Awards lunch on Tuesday, according to Page Six and Mail Online.

According to both outlets, Stone — who said earlier this month that she lost half her money in a banking scandal — went on to say that she was recompensed just $500,000 for her role opposite Douglas as novelist-turned-murder suspect Catherine Tramell in the erotic thriller.

Representatives for Douglas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Stone also said that a line producer repeatedly referred to her as "Karen" throughout the "entirety of the film."

"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," she said.

Stone has previously spoken out about the pay disparity between her and her costar in the movie, which launched her career but also took a toll on her health and caused her to lose custody of her 4-year-old son 

In an InStyle essay published last year to mark the film's 30th anniversary, the actor revealed that to soften the blow of her low salary, she had a clause added to her contract that allowed her to keep her character's entire wardrobe, which included items from Hermès and other designers. 

"People thought I was crazy, but the truth is I wasn't getting paid much compared to my male costar," she wrote. "I made $500,000; Michael made $14 million. So keeping my costumes was a really smart thing to do."

Meanwhile, in 2021, Stone told CBC she "made not enough money to buy my dress to go to the Oscars the next year." 

"Basic Instinct" was nominated for best film editing and best original score at the 1993 Academy Awards, but was largely left out of the awards conversation.

Stone, however, did win best female performance and most desirable female at the MTV Movie Awards for her seductive turn in the movie.

Stone isn't the only female star who has been vocal about pay discrepancies in Hollywood recently.

Last year, "Jurassic World" star Bryce Dallas Howard told Insider's Entertainment Reporter Ayomikun Adekaiyero that she was paid "so much less" than her costar Chris Pratt.

Although reports initially indicated that the two had quite a sizable pay gap, Howard explained that the reports were wrong and that she was paid even less than the speculated figure. 

However, Pratt pushed for her to receive better compensation for other franchise opportunities that were not already contractually binding.