I never guessed I’d be happy to turn 60, but for a time I wasn’t sure I’d make 50

One of Hollywood’s greatest sex symbols, Sharon Stone celebrated her 60th birthday on Saturday yet looks at least a decade younger.

New bikini photos with Italian toyboy Angelo Boffa in Miami showed the Basic Instinct star still has a body to die for.

And she fuelled speculation she and the estate agent, 41, are engaged with a huge diamond ring sparkling on her left hand.

But they might have to wait to marry as Sharon has three movies in the pipeline, one a secret Martin Scorsese project.

All of which means she is the happiest she has been in years.

She says: “I never guessed I’d be happy turning 60. Let’s be real, it’s old. But it’s the greatest achievement for me because there was a time I wasn’t sure if I’d make 50.”

That’s because 17 years ago Sharon nearly died. For years she hid her ordeal, fearing it would destroy her career. But with her life now firmly back on track she finally feels ready to reveal what happened in more detail than ever before.

She says: “I had a brain bleed and stroke which lasted nine days. They gave me a 5% chance of survival. It wasn’t diet or lifestyle. Sometimes the brain malfunctions and mine malfunctioned in a big way.”

Sharon was struck down by a blinding headache in autumn 2001.

Despite her agony, it was three days before she was taken to hospital in San Francisco, where she lived with husband Phil Bronstein.

At first doctors planned to send her home because they thought she was “acting”, but exploratory surgery revealed there was so much blood inside her skull it had forced her brain forwards.

When Sharon came round and heard what doctors had discovered, she asked if she should call her mum. They told her to do it as soon as possible, before she lost the ability to speak.

Sharon also lost a fifth of her weight in hospital, but it was just the start.

She says: “When I got home it affected my left ear, I couldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t feel anything in my left leg.

“I was blind in one eye then I went completely blind temporarily. It was like my senses were shutting down. I couldn’t write my name for three years.

“I was lucky to be alive but the odds of my body restoring itself to full health were very small. When I was at the hospital they had missed that an artery to my brain had switched course and was affecting my nerves.

“Once that was corrected, I was on the road to recovery. But it was a long road.

“My sight came back, my hearing came back, although it drops out every now and then. I had to relearn everything, pretty much, to read, write and speak. It took a very long time. I had to learn to live again, it was an overwhelming challenge.”

Having found fame thanks to her stunning looks, Sharon felt deeply insecure when one side of her face began to drop and feared she would “never be pretty again”.

Her fears were compounded when her husband filed for divorce two years later and won custody of their son Roan, now 17, adopted a year before her haemorrhage. Having lost most of her money, Sharon was now scraping by. But she was determined to keep acting and attending charity events.

And that meant hiding how close she came to death. She says: “I never wanted the world – specifically the industry – to know how serious it was. I would have become unhireable. So I hid it the best I could.”

She slowly rebuilt her life, trying to be the best mother she could be to Roan from a distance until she finally regained custody.

The star repaid her debts and

I had to relearn everything pretty much – to read, write and speak. It was overwhelming SHARON ON REBUILDING HER LIFE AFTER HER BRAIN BLEED

even adopted two more boys, Laird, 12, and Quinn 11 – fulfilling a dream that had been thwarted by two miscarriages. And two years ago she returned to university in her native Pennsylvania to study for a creative writing and fine arts degree, inspired by Hillary Clinton to complete the course she quit as a teenager.

Sharon may finally be back on top but she still suffers the effects of her brain bleed. She explains: “I had a photographic memory but that’s gone now. And I take medication every night.

“But the fact I’m acting again, and not just in small roles, is a huge win.”

Her latest role, working with director Steven Soderbergh on groundbreaking detective show Mosaic, challenged her memory.

As well as watching on TV, viewers can download an app and piece the case together themselves.

It meant learning a 500-page script and ploughing through 30 pages a day. Sharon jokes: “It wasn’t a script, it was an anthology.

“There was so much work it was exhausting, This is only a couple of years since I was a guest on Law and Order and struggled through a scene.” Sharon continues her comeback by working with Scorsese, an exciting move given that their last collaboration, Casino, earned her a Golden Globe and a best actress Oscar nomination.

But while Sharon has opened up about her health, she is refusing to reveal more about the movie.

She says: “It’s a secret. This year feels like a huge comeback and I couldn’t be more grateful to Martin.

“It’s true that what doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger. I do feel stronger and reinforced.”

This year feels like a huge comeback. What doesn’t kill you can only make you stronger SHARON ON HER NEW LEASE OF LIFE WORKING WITH SCORSESE AGAIN