Sharon Stone loves her figure now that she's in her sixties

Actress Sharon Stone. Picture: Reuters

Sharon Stone has admitted she has grown to love her body now more than ever in her sixties.

The 61-year-old actress - who credits Pilates for her impressive physique - has admitted she has learned to appreciate her figure after years of being judged by her appearance.

The former fashion model told the latest issue of Allure magazine: "I like my body so much more.

"I'm so grateful to my body.

"When I was younger, everybody was telling me what was wrong with my body - too this, too that."

Sharon hated it when she was plastered in make-up for her role as Catherine Tramell in 1992's 'Basic Instinct' and revealed she wasn't able to pick her own look for the part.

She said: "When I got on 'Basic Instinct', they hired a make-up artist that put on pounds of make-up every day, and every day I went to my trailer and took the make-up off.

"But I wasn't allowed to choose my make-up artist, nor was my name (above the title) on the poster."

The 'Life on the Line' star also revealed that she felt the "most beautiful" in her forties - despite going through the most challenging time in her life.

The Hollywood legend - who has adopted sons 14-year-old Laird and 13-year-old Quinn, and 19-year-old Roan with ex-husband Phil Bronstein - received visitation rights to Ronan in 2004, a year after splitting from her former spouse, and also had to remortgage her house in the wake of suffering a stroke.

And although she claimed it was difficult to find work because of her age, she looks back on that time fondly in terms of her beauty.

She said: "My forties were so beautiful.

"I couldn't work because women, once they got to be 40, were not given jobs in Hollywood.

"I was a mom with three beautiful little boys.

"I was recovering from a massive brain injury, and I was in custody court constantly over my oldest child.

"But there was something wonderful in that period of all those challenges.

"It was my period of the biggest change, but the period where I thought I was the most beautiful."

The 'Casino' star previously insisted the most important thing that makes her so stunning is having "real inner beauty".

She said: "Also, for me, it's more about real inner beauty. It's important to have a philosophy or way of life or faith that keeps you balanced. For me, that has been Buddhism. It's something that brings you back to center, and is really the key to serenity and beauty - an internal sense of form and elegance."