Back on the red carpet to promote her new TV series, action drama Agent X, the 57-year-old spoke candidly about the reasons behind her resurgence.
Sharon, who suffered a life-threatening aneurysm in 2001 and a subsequent stroke, says her three adopted sons Roan, Laird and Quinn, gave her the strength to make a comeback.
“They really look to me and they really depended on me,” said Sharon, who had Laird as her date at the recent Hollywood premiere for Agent X.
“I also had a child I was raising from far away that I lost custody of in the beginning, when I really wasn’t and probably shouldn’t have been in court. But that’s what I had to do. So the fact that I was trying to parent long distance was something that really kept me together.
“It was hard, but ultimately it was really those lessons that are always really good and it helped me.”
Luckily, however, the Oscar-nominated star, who also has a raft of new movies in production, says she’s never felt healthier and more “emotionally intelligent”.
“I chose to work very hard to open up other parts of my mind,” she explains. “Now I’m stronger. And I can be abrasively direct. That scares people, but I think that’s not my problem. It’s like I have brain damage; you’ll just have to deal with it.”
Once considered the biggest sex symbol of her era, Sharon says she’s also come to terms with ageing and the impacts on her body, even posing naked for Harper’s BAZAAR a few weeks ago.
“I’m aware that my ass looks like a bag of flapjacks but I’m not trying to be the best-looking broad in the world,” she tells the magazine. “At a certain point you start asking yourself, ‘What really is sexy?’ It’s not just the elevation of your boobs.
“It’s being present and having fun and liking yourself enough to like the person that’s with you.”
Finally comfortably in her own skin, Sharon admits she’s also ready to find that someone special to share her best years with.
After her second marriage to journalist Phil Bronstein ended in 2004, Sharon says she hasn’t had much luck with relationships.
“I never get asked. It’s so stupid. I don’t know what to do,” she said.
“I’ve been getting more brazen with flirting, but I don’t think men realise that I’m flirting. “They just think, ‘Oh, she’s fun!’”
