U.S. actress Sharon Stone is seen during a press conference introducing her as the new face of Dior's anti-aging product line in Paris October 4. - REUTERS
PARIS, (REUTERS)
ACTRESS SHARON STONE has defended Kate Moss and implicitly criticised companies who were ending their contracts with the British supermodel after a newspaper alleged Moss had snorted cocaine.
The cocaine scandal has prompted two fashion houses - Britain's Burberry and Swedish-based Hennes and Mauritz - to sever ties with 31-year-old Moss.
France's Chanel said it would not renew her contract when it expired this month, but did not comment on whether the decision was linked to the cocaine scandal.
"I'd like to say as for Kate Moss, I understand that she has apologised and is changing her life. And I think that that is the most important thing that's happened," Stone, the American star of sultry thriller Basic Instinct, said in Paris.
"I think that we have to be aware that people are allowed to make mistakes in their life," she told a news conference at which she was being presented as the new face to promote a Christian Dior product.
Stone implicitly criticised the fashion houses who had parted with Moss, after Britain's Mirror tabloid featured grainy pictures that allegedly showed the model taking cocaine.
"Whether or not a house stands with her or not through it says more about the house than it does about her," Stone said.
The actress, 47, who made headlines earlier this year for raising $1 million in five minutes from business tycoons at the Davos World Economic Forum for African children, earned loud applause for her comments.
WATING FOR JESUS
"If you are in here and haven't made a mistake, I'd like to meet you because I've been waiting for Jesus - and today would be the day," Stone said to loud laughter.
Moss, whose annual earnings from modelling are estimated to be in excess of £4 million (US$7 million), apologised last month to friends, family and associates for her behaviour.
Moss, who has a three-year-old daughter, was discovered by a modelling agency when she was a 14-year-old schoolgirl, and has been photographed for the covers of countless magazines.
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