Sharon Stone nearly died in 2001 when she suffered a brain aneurysm and although she’s in good health now, she’s opening up about the effects of it.

Stone had a two-year period of her life that she dealt with the effects of internal bleeding. She also said the episode changed her in more ways than one.

“It almost feels like my entire DNA changed,” she told Harper’s Bazaar. “My brain isn’t sitting where it used to, my body type changed, and even my food allergies are different. I became 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.”

One area in which she’s become much more direct is her dating life, which she thinks scares men away.

“I’ve been getting more brazen with flirting, but I don’t think men realize that I’m flirting,” she admitted. “They just think, Oh, she’s fun!’ ”

The Casino star even said she often asks her assistant if “people even realize I’m straight” because she has “so many lesbian friends right now.”

Stone has been married twice and it doesn’t appear she’s ruling out trying it again. She has three sons; Roan, Laird and Quinn.

Her main response to people who think she’s too direct now is, “I have brain damage; you’ll just have to deal with it.”

image via INFphoto.com