"It almost feels like my entire DNA changed": Sharon Stone on how her brain injury has affected her life.

Image: Getty.

Sharon Stone is a global household name, but there’s one aspect of her life that’s not quite as well-known as her film roles.

In a new interview with Harpers Bazaar magazine, the 57-year-old has spoken candidly about the brain aneurysm she suffered in 2001, and the significant and ongoing effects it has had on her life.

The Basic Instinct star learned she’d had a stroke when she went to the emergency room after feeling unwell for three days.

RELATED: Depression can actually damage parts of our brain.

“When I came to [after falling unconscious] the doctor was leaning over me. I said, ‘Am I dying?’ And he said, ‘You’re bleeding into your brain,'” she tells writer Christopher Bagley.

“I said, ‘I should call my mom,’ and he said, ‘You’re right. You could lose the ability to speak soon.’ ”

Doctors diagnosed Stone with a ruptured vertebral artery, and she spent nine days in the intensive care unit. "I was hemorrhaging so much that my brain had been pushed into the front of my face," she recalls.

Although surgeons were able to repair the artery using platinum coils, the injury has impacted multiple aspects of Stone's health and lifestyle. She says it took two years for her body to absorb the internal bleeding; months for her to get feeling back in her left leg; and years for her vision to settle.

RELATED: Jessie J speaks about her heart condition and having a stroke at age 17.

Previously, Stone has said she: "came home from that stroke stuttering" and "couldn’t read for two years". Just five years ago, she struggled to remember her lines on the set of Law and Order.

Many of the side-effects remain evident today. "It almost feels like my entire DNA changed. My brain isn't sitting where it used to, my body type changed, and even my food allergies are different," Stone explains to Harpers Bazaar. (Post continues after gallery.)

Interestingly, the Oscar nominee believes the aneurysm has led her to become more emotionally intelligent.

"I chose to work very hard to open up other parts of my mind. Now I'm stronger. And I can be abrasively direct. That scares people, but I think that's not my problem... It's like, I have brain damage; you'll just have to deal with it."

In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter last year, Stone admits the "humbling journey" of surviving a brain injury has influenced how she feels about ageing, particularly in an industry that's notoriously obsessed with youth.

RELATED: "Ageing isn't something to be feared. It's a privilege."

"I don't choose to make growing older a negative. I choose to get older. Growing older is my goal ... I know what the alternative to growing older is," she says.

"I was in an ICU for nine days and the survival rate for what I went through is very low. I don't need someone to make me feel bad about growing older. I'll tell you what makes you feel bad: when you think you might not. So I feel really good about talking and having my full vocabulary."

Have you had an experience that's affected your view on ageing?