Fan Fare

Actress Sharon Stone has something to say to her doubters, and she’s not afraid to let her bare breasts do the talking.

In cover photo for the French publication Paris Match that hit stands on Thursday, Stone poses topless wearing a black corset and high heels. The accompanying headline reads (in French): “I’m 50 years-old … so what?”

Well, that’s one way to grab the public’s interest. The Oscar-nominated Stone is actually 51, but with a cover photo like that, who cares?

The star of “Casino” and “Basic Instinct” (see below) has recently suffered some rough turbulence in the media. Last year many people were outraged at her comments about an 8.0 magnitude earthquake that occurred on May 12 in China and killed more than 80,000 people.  In response to a reporter’s question at a red carpet Cannes event, Stone said that in light of China’s harsh treatment of Tibet, the earthquake made her think, “is that karma? That when you’re not nice that bad things happen to you?”

Stone was roundly criticized after the statement, and she later told the New York Times, “Clearly, I sound like an idiot.” But she also insisted that her comment was taken out of context, and in fairness to Stone, in the controversial red carpet statement she immediately went on to say that she was reduced to tears when she found out a group called the Tibetan Foundation was working to help earthquake victims, and that it was a “big lesson” to her about service.

Stone going topless is in some ways a return to her Hollywood roots, because it was her extensive nudity and commanding performance as a seductress in the 1992 film “Basic Instinct” that made her a star. In an interview published in French with Paris Match to accompany the publication’s photos, Stone said “Is there an age when a person should forbid themselves from doing these kinds of things, from showing your body?”

“This is middle-age, it’s not the end of life!” she said. “If someone is shocked by these photos, it’s a reflection of their own view of life, and they should ask themselves why they have that attitude.”

Well, at least that comment’s not likely to cause an international incident.