Sharon Stone has slammed the ''pretty misogynistic era'' she endured twenty years ago.

The 'Basic Instinct' star admits it was tough when she first started out in the industry because ''the term 'f***able' was equated with workable and camera''.

Speaking to the German edition of Vogue magazine, she said: ''When I started as a model and actress, the term 'f***able' was equated with workable and camera. It was a pretty misogynistic era twenty years ago. Mel Gibson, who is three years older than me, thought I was too old to star opposite him.''

Meanwhile, Sharon previously insisted she won't ever allow herself to be ''defined'' by a man.

She said: ''I was just not that girl who was told that a man would define me. I was told that if I wanted to have a man in my life, it wouldn't be an arrangement, it would be an actual partnership. And those are hard to find.''

The 'Basic Instinct' star had a tough few years in 2001, when she was struck by a brain haemorrhage and at the time, she was given a ''five per cent chance'' of living.

She said: ''There was about a five per cent chance of me living. My whole life was wiped out. Others aren't that interested in a broken person. I was alone. I'm sure I seemed peculiar coming through this all these years, and I didn't want to tell everybody what was happening because, you know, this is not a forgiving environment. I'm so grateful to have this. The chance of my having it was so slim.''