Hollywood star Sharon Stone’s nipples are the star of the show for her latest magazine cover shoot for Vogue Adria. The shoot and interview depicted her takes on intimacy and power, as well as an amazing nipple positive ensemble. For one look, sports a sheer, asymmetric, off-the-shoulder t-shirt that exposes her entire chest. In the picture, Stone is sitting on the shoulders of a group of men, including Halle Berry’s ex Gabriel Aubry.

The fan commentary for the shoot has been all around positive, with one posting ‘SO FIRE’ and another writing that she’s ‘the most beautiful woman in the world’. In a world full of misogyny and disempowerment of women – especially in the entertainment industry – it feels so great to see Stone’s shoot being received in such a supportive light, as well as her showing a wonderful example of a woman in her late 60s embracing her body. Also, it feels somewhat revolutionary for a celebrity’s nipple to be photographed and displayed in a style that doesn’t sexualise or sensationalise.

Stone was recently asked about how she feels about ageing in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, she opened up about the importance of loving your body and not giving up on it. ‘A lot of people give up as they get older,’ she said. ‘They let go of their body because it’s collapsing anyway, or it’s like, ‘I’m not defined by my body anymore.’ But you still have to love that body.’

Stone went on to describe how she views and loves her body has shifted, particularly how she views her arms.

‘I joke that my underarms have pleats now,’ she says. ‘I think, “Well, I had beautiful arms and now they’re strong and painting and like angel wings. So what if they have pleats? Maybe that’s what makes them wonderful now.”’

It feels like we’ve come a long way in terms of how actors like Stone are depicted on screen, ensuring that women in particular aren’t depicted as sexual objects and nothing else. She has long spoken about being sexualised throughout her career, especially in the aftermath of the role she played in Basic Instinct, which made her a sex symbol. She has reflected on using her fame to raise large amounts of money for causes such as research into HIV and AIDS treatment.

‘I’m really proud that I took this idea that was made up in this movie – that I was really sexy – and used it to fight a disease where people were getting punished for their sexuality, because I was getting punished for mine,’ she told the BBC.

Her philanthropy affected her status in Hollywood. ‘I didn’t get roles. I couldn’t get a job,’ she told The Hollywood Reporter. ‘People would turn me down without me even knowing it. I was up for this beautiful movie by this writer — I won’t say who it was — and I never even got the script. To this day, he doesn’t believe that I didn’t read his script.’

Stone has long been a trailblazer for feminist, empowering moves in the entertainment industry, and has often spoken out on its inequality and injustice.‘Hollywood is set up to be misogynistic. It’s a business run by men,’ she has said.

‘It’s a business where men make the money. Where men write, produce and direct the projects. Where men write the parts that are played by women. And those parts are not written about real women. They’re written to be the fantasy of how women should be.

‘Then, the male critics tell you if you met the fantasy or not, if you behaved in the right way. You know, until Basic Instinct, women had to cross their legs a certain way on the screen, at the ankles. You couldn’t cross your legs like a man. You weren’t even allowed to show your armpits. We had to get permission for me to show my armpits in that movie.’

Stone has also argued that in the past ‘women were playing the fantasy of men’ due to the fact that they wrote, directed, produced, edited and distributed the films. She has even opened up about the abusive behaviour that she experienced from disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, recalling that ‘he did not sexually abuse me, but he was physically abusive. Like, he would throw me across the room, he would grab me.’

Stone has also spoken ‘choosing joy’ when opting to be resilient, which aligns with her nipple-freeing vibe. Long may it continue. ‘We can choose to bitch and moan or we can choose joy – I think you have to just keep choosing joy,’ she has said, advising us to ‘stay present. You fell down. Get up. Someone pushed you down. Now they want to help you up. Let them.’