Return to Transcripts main page

Piers Morgan Live

Gadhafi Loses More of Libya; Terror Arrest in the U.S.; One-on- One with Sharon Stone

Aired February 24, 2011 - 21:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

PIERS MORGAN, HOST: Tonight breaking news out of Libya.

Moammar Gadhafi says he'll go down a martyr as the noose around him tightens. Now the U.S. fears he might use mustard gas on his own people.

All of this as a ferry for the desperate American sits stranded in Tripoli's harbor trying to get out.

And as Gadhafi's bloody crackdown gets dramatically worse, what would it mean for oil, the world's economy and for you?

And later, an historic day for Prince William and his bride-to- be, Kate Middleton. What the couple did, they've never done before.

And my special guest tonight live in the studio is Sharon Stone. The Hollywood star who redefined the modern Hollywood symbol. She's here for her first interview with a terrifying incident with a stalker in her Los Angeles mansion.

This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.

Good evening. The situation in Libya tonight is dire. Ten days into the protest with the shaking Gadhafi regime to its core, much of eastern Libya is now controlled by opposition forces.

This is a following report by CNN's Ben Wedeman of a dramatic nature.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

IVAN WATSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: A British royal air force cargo plane has just landed here at Maltese International Airport carrying at least 64 foreigners escaping from Tripoli as well as one dog.

The Maltese government says this island country is the main escape route for tens of thousands of foreigners trapped in Libya right now. At least a half dozen governments are relying on Malta to try to help them get their nationals out.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The airport? Organized anarchy. One term I could come up with. Basically it was just a complete mess. The whole place is just a rubbish dump. Doesn't matter people are abandoning every last piece of luggage they've got. I'm one of the lucky few who actually managed to get through because there are so many stampedes. The police get fed with the people -- with the overcrowding. They charge with baton and cattle prods and occasionally, yes, small arms fired just to basically frighten people off.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It is very scary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Yes. Scary in the night. There's some gun fighting in the city at night. But I'm not seeing it directly because I stay home all the time after sunset.

WATSON: But it's not just foreigners that are desperate to escape. Over here are two Libyan air force fighter planes. Their pilots landed here unexpectedly several days ago. They defected to escape Colonel Gadhafi's regime.

Ivan Watson, CNN, Malta.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MORGAN: My apologies. That was of course, Ivan Watson. It was a late-breaking package there.

We are now going to Ben Wedeman who is right in the heart of Libya.

Ben, tell me what you're seeing right now. What's going on? There's a lot of chaotic speculation and rumor coming out of Libya. What are you hearing that might be remotely factual?

BEN WEDEMAN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, there is obviously a lot of confusion about the information coming out. We know that in the town Zallah, which is not far from Tripoli, that the anti-Gadhafi forces have taken over. In another city on the Mediterranean, they also seem to have gained control of that city.

By and large, what we're seeing -- I mean if you look at the big picture, Piers, you see a variety of diplomats defecting to the anti- Gadhafi forces. Here in Libya itself, more and more members of the government and the military seem to be coming over to the other side.

The minister of justice, the minister of interior have already resigned and come to the eastern part of the country, speaking to people in the military who have joined the anti-Gadhafi forces. They say they're in touch with people in the area of Tripoli.

I spoke to one pilot who has been in contact with his comrades around Tripoli. He says that they are hearing reports that pilots who refuse to carry out Moammar Gadhafi's orders have been executed, and that the government has brought in Algerian pilots, essentially as mercenaries to do their jobs.

But by and large, it does seem to be the momentum is not going in Moammar Gadhafi's favor -- Piers. MORGAN: I mean, unlike what we saw in Egypt, though, Ben, Gadhafi has made it absolutely crystal clear that he will go as a martyr. He will die for the cause if need be and he's going to create as much bloodshed as it takes to try and stay in power, isn't he?

WEDEMAN: That does seem to be the case. Although we heard that the former justice minister, he believes that Gadhafi will simply commit suicide at some point. He is that unstable person.

It's hard to really say sort of where the end game will lie. We know that, for instance, that the people in this part of Libya are in contact even with the tribe of Moammar Gadhafi. They have told them that they have no problems with his tribe. They just want to see Moammar Gadhafi himself leave power -- Piers.

MORGAN: Thank you very much.

I've been joined now by my colleague, Anderson Cooper.

Anderson, you've got a dramatic tape. I want to play this in a moment but just tell me very quickly what we're about to hear.

ANDERSON COOPER, CNN'S AC 360: Yes, I got off the phone about half an hour ago with a woman who is in Tripoli, is stuck in her home. She's been trapped there for five days as are many citizens in -- trapped, afraid to go outside. There's mercenaries on the streets. There's these roving gangs of young kids who have been armed, empowered by Gadhafi, told to hunt for people who are opposed to the regime.

Gadhafi even talked about going -- people going house to house, you know, apartment to apartment hunting down his opponents.

So this is a woman who is trapped in her home like so many in Tripoli and what is so startling about this conversation that I had with her which lasted about 20 minutes, is just -- it is -- it is a desperate call on the night for the world to do something.

MORGAN: Let's hear a bit of it now.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We are dying. And the problem is, I -- OK, I talking to you and you are listening to me and you are seeing the videos, and people are talking to you from inside, outside of Libya. But action, there needs to be action. How much more waiting? How much more watching? How much more people dying?

COOPER: How much longer can you hold on?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I don't know. You know I feel like sometimes really I feel like I'm going to go crazy. And then sometimes I have to say, no, no. You have to be strong. Your freedom is not something easy. Not cheap. You have to fight for your freedom.

(END OF VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: This is desperate stuff. I've been joined by Reza Aslan, a Middle East expert.

Anderson, we'll start with you on that.

What you're hearing there, the tormented words of a woman who doesn't know if she'll be alive or dead by tomorrow morning.

COOPER: Yes.

MORGAN: I mean this is the reality of what's going on in Libya, isn't it?. This is not like Egypt. People are getting slaughtered all over the place.

COOPER: Yes. I talked to a man yesterday who could see a sniper who was camped out on the building across the street from him. This woman was talking about people, you know, winding out getting shot in the head, getting shot in the chest.

It is -- this is a population which is being terrorized not by some outside force but by the man who is allegedly their leader. And what was so startling about this woman is she was asking me whether the world is paying attention. Whether people actually did care what was going on there and whether people knew what Gadhafi was saying was not true. That what he is saying, as he said for many years -- just continued to be lies.

MORGAN: Reza, let me bring you in. I mean you know this region better than most. What are we seeing here? In Egypt it was all over in 18 days. An extraordinary revolution of modern times. There was violence but not very much. There wasn't a lot of life lost.

Already here in Libya, it's a completely different case, isn't it?

REZA ASLAN, AUTHOR, "NO GOD BUT GOD": Absolutely.

MORGAN: And Gadhafi has -- unlike Mubarak -- come out and said I'll do whatever it takes.

ASLAN: Well, absolutely. I mean unlike in Egypt, we have a highly decentralized state in Libya despite the fact that it's been a one-man rule for 40 years. And also unlike Egypt, there is no institution like the military that can serve as a glue to keep things together. That can form some kind of transition into something post- Gadhafi.

I mean we really don't know what comes after Gadhafi. I mean this is a man, remember, who came to power on a military coup. And he's made sure over the last four decades that nothing like that could ever happen again by keeping the army divided, keeping it weak, poorly trained.

You know these battalions are loyal to their own tribes, not to their military commanders, which is why he's had to bring in these special forces that are organized according to his sons. He's brought in these African mercenaries that Anderson was talking about.

There is really nothing that can actually keep Gadhafi in check. Ben Wedeman referred to him as unstable. That's putting it diplomatically.

MORGAN: Yes, I mean, Anderson, the rambling speeches are just complete stuff of madness. And yet he remains in charge. So you have what appears to be a lunatic in charge of this country who has said, I'll be a martyr.

That makes this a very dangerous situation, doesn't it?

COOPER: Yes. I mean if you're willing to turn helicopter gunships on your own people, you're willing to do just about anything. I mean this is not somebody who cares -- I mean this is somebody who, you know, has written his green book. A rambling incoherent treaties which he views as this great work, and it's become, you know, sort of the law of the land.

And we just saw him the other day reading from it. I mean it is -- it's incredible that he has been able to hold on to power this long. But he's been very effective at keeping the army very weak.

And again, insulating himself. And it's not even clear how much he really is in control. I mean his sons have a very heavy hand on things. They have their own security forces. You know there are reports that maybe it's -- some of his sons or intelligence forces which have actually been kind of running the show as he's become more and more unhinged.

MORGAN: Ben Wedeman, if I can come back to you briefly, what we're hearing tonight, lots of rumor, speculation again, about what he may do including threats of using mustard gas against his people. There have been other wild reports that possibly he is considering poisoning the water.

I mean this is sort of potential Armageddon for Libya if any of this actually happens, isn't it?

WEDEMAN: Certainly is. But let's keep in mind that there are lots of rumors going on -around --

MORGAN: Ben, can you hear me? Are you still there?

(CROSSTALK)

WEDEMAN: And they are oftentimes -- yes, I can hear you. I can hear you. Can you hear me?

MORGAN: I'm sorry. I couldn't hear. I can hear you now, yes. Thank you.

WEDEMAN: OK. Piers, there's lots of rumors going around, things like mustard gas and the like. And really these are impossible to confirm. I mean just an example, the first night when we drove in to Libya from Egypt, we passed by an ammunition dump that was on fire. Just constantly blowing up and throwing sparks into the air.

The people in the area told us we have to be careful because there's mustard gas in that ammunition dump. But clearly there wasn't.

So I think -- also the regime itself is encouraging a certain level of panic to keep the population on edge. To keep -- to scare, basically, the people of Libya into thinking it's either Armageddon or Moammar Gadhafi. And obviously between the two, you might choose Moammar Gadhafi.

But I -- and so I think that the rumors we need to take with more than a bit of pinch of salt.

MORGAN: Ben, thank you very much.

Anderson, Reza, thank you very much indeed.

The market is keeping a wary eye on the chaos on Libya. What will it mean for the world's economy and for you?

Joining me now is Mohamed El-Erian, CEO of Pacific Investment Management Company.

Mohamed, we're seeing alarming spikes in oil prices, gas prices increasing, obviously. People paying more now for their gas. When is this going to end? I mean it seems at the moment bordering on out of control.

MOHAMED EL-ERIAN, CEO AND CO-CIO OF PIMCO: Like I say, Piers, everybody is going to feel the impact of Libya. You know, first and foremost, is what's happening in Libya, tremendous suffering, but everybody around the world is going to feel it in terms of higher energy prices.

And like we say, the moves have been tremendous. Twelve to 15 percent price increases in a week, 25 to 30 percent over the last three months. And not only does that take money immediately out of people's pocket, but the outlook, Piers, is very uncertain.

There is concern about the supply side. Will this spread to other countries? And on the demand side this is ironic, but when oil prices go up, the immediate effect is to make people buy more. Because they want to stockpile. Because they want to hedge their future energy demands.

So we are looking at a high and volatile oil prices for the next few weeks, at least.

MORGAN: And also, Mohamed, I mean, the fact is that Libya has about 2 percent of the world's oil in terms of production. But much more valuable and therefore more dangerous right now and unstable is the amount they have in oil reserves which have yet to be tapped.

I mean that's a much larger expanse of oil which if Gadhafi decided he wanted to, he could just blow up presumably. EL-ERIAN: That's correct. It's the biggest oil reserves in Africa. It's significant on a global scale. So Libya may look small in terms of production, but its impact on the oil market is quite large.

MORGAN: Mohamed El-Erian, thank you very much indeed.

I want to turn now to breaking news on what could have been a deadly series of terror attacks across this country. A Saudi national living in Texas has been arrested on charges of buying chemicals that could be used to make a bomb.

The 20-year-old man allegedly targeted the Dallas home of former President George W. Bush. Along with targets in California and New York.

And joining me now is the New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly.

Commissioner Kelly, this is pretty worrying, isn't it?

COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY, NEW YORK POLICE: Well, it certainly is cause for concern for those of us here in New York. We see ourselves at the top of the terrorist target list and this sort of reaffirms that. The fact that New York was mentioned twice in the complaint, yes. It is a matter of concern for us.

MORGAN: Would you say that the risk now to cities like New York and America is greater than it was in 2001, for example?

KELLY: Well, I think the risk has been pretty consistent. You know we look at three levels of risk. We see al Qaeda central, core al Qaeda, we see their surrogates, we see that's al Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, and we see homegrown terrorists. And this is sort of a manifestation of that last category.

Although this individual appears at this juncture to have acted alone. He comes from Saudi Arabia. He's here on a student visa and he talked rather openly about the reason he came here was to conduct jihad.

So, you know, this is the world in which we live. And I really -- I don't see the risk as changing that much. In New York we see ourselves always at risk, quite frankly. And we know we have to be vigilant and we are.

MORGAN: Do you think the national homeland security threat level should be raised?

KELLY: No, not for this. It appears that this individual acted alone. And I see no reason why we would increase the -- you know the level of vigilance for this particular incident.

MORGAN: I suppose the reason that I could come up with would be with all this turmoil in the Middle East, it's an obvious opportunity for extremists to try and make some sort of point and seize control of the vacuum. Is that not an increased threat that perhaps they will try something to reinforce that point?

KELLY: It's possible. But I think -- I can only speak for New York. And we are doing everything we can do to protect the city. I don't believe we've taken our guard down in any way, shape or form.

So I don't think there is a vacuum here created by what's going on in the Middle East.

MORGAN: Appreciate you coming. Thank you very much indeed.

KELLY: OK, Piers.

MORGAN: Coming up next, my interview with -- thank you.

Coming up next, my Hollywood superstar interview. Sharon Stone. Her life, loves and what she's doing now.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

MORGAN: Sharon Stone is a quintessential movie star. The savvy celebrity has also brought some unwanted attention. She filed a restraining order only today against a stalker who broke into her Los Angeles home. And Sharon joins me now.

I've got to start with this, because obviously it's a story of our time in many ways. This gentleman broke into your house a few -- a couple of weeks ago?

SHARON STONE, ACTRESS: I think gentleman would be an overstatement.

MORGAN: Yes. How would you describe him?

STONE: Well, we have described him as mentally ill and he is currently in a lockdown of a psychiatric unit. So w feel safe.

MORGAN: Were you there at the time?

STONE: No, no.

MORGAN: What was your feeling when you heard about this?

STONE: Well, my feeling was just simply to react logically. And we called the police. And the police really were wonderful. We're so lucky to have such a terrific police unit here. And they knew exactly what to do and they did a very good job. And it's been handled really well.

MORGAN: Scary though, isn't it? Evasive, I imagine?

STONE: You know --

MORGAN: Are you used to this kind of thing over the years? Do you get a lot of crank people turning up? STONE: Well, as I'm sure you've come to realize with your own celebrity, you get all kinds of fans and all kinds of incidents. And less than scary I think we proceed with some sort of logic and people are in place and understand what to do.

MORGAN: I was there in '92 at the Cannes Film Festival.

STONE: You were there stalking me?

MORGAN: Not stalking you. Well, in a funny way I was, actually. I was a journalist on a British newspaper sent to the Cannes Film Festival in '92. And my brief was to get to this bombshell call Sharon Stone. It exploded with this movie that was about to take the world by storm.

And I interviewed you then 20 years ago. And it was -- it was fabulous. You were so kind of -- you know it wasn't like you were a young (INAUDIBLE), you weren't. You were somebody who'd sort of worked hard and now you've your chance. And I could tell that you were just loving every second of it.

And it was great. When I heard you were coming on, I was so thrilled because I remember that moment so well.

STONE: It was a fun time. When we went to Cannes, I don't think anyone, especially myself, expected that this was going to be such a big moment. Such a huge moment of activity for me or a moment when my life would shift so dramatically. We had no plans for what happened. And it was fun. It was exciting.

MORGAN: Let me come back to "Basic Instinct" in a moment. What it did, of course, was propel you into the stratosphere of stardom which is one of the reasons why this stalker would have turned up. What have been the pitfalls of fame for you? I mean tell me -- is it always cracked out to be?

STONE: The pitfall of fame?

MORGAN: Are there pitfalls of fame?

STONE: The pitfalls of fame? What are you? An English tabloid writer?

(LAUGHTER)

MORGAN: When would you call it?

STONE: I don't really think of it like that.

MORGAN: The negative. What are the negatives?

STONE: I don't -- I don't really leap to the negatives. There's been so many blessings to be -- I've been able to use my fame for so many good things. I've had so many opportunities to take my fame to be helpful in the world, to be of service in the world, because what happened to me was that I did not become famous as a child. As a teenager.

I mean, so many of these kids, I look at someone like Justin Bieber who I think is what? 15 or 17?

MORGAN: Sixteen, yes.

STONE: I think that's a really much more complex and difficult thing than what happened to me when I became famous when I was 32. So I was a grounded adult. And because of that, and because I had such dear, good friends who really guided me. Friends in the entertainment business. Grown women had been through it like Shirley MacLaine.

MORGAN: What did they tell you? What was the advice they gave you?

STONE: They really talked to me about keeping my feet on the ground and really enjoying every moment and really staying in my gratitude and grace. And they helped me to understand each thing.

Faye Dunaway was great for me, then. Thee people were very -- they ladies who had really been through it in the classic period of film making were just wonderful to me. And showed me -- I mean, you know, Shirley MacLaine was in the "Rat Pack" with these great guys, and talked to me a lot about how to really get with it and really how to have some joy. And that was very, very great for me.

MORGAN: When you see Lindsay Lohan, you co-starred with her in "Bobby", of course. When you see what's happened to her, she, it seems to me, classically got it all to young and has really struggled to deal with it.

STONE: I don't -- in her case particularly, I don't think it's a question of her youth. But a question of the fact that she clearly needs some actual health care. And I think that perhaps because of her position, it's very difficult for the legal system to give her the actual practical care that she needs.

MORGAN: What advice would you give her? Now.

STONE: I would not try to give her advice. I would just wish that there is a way that the system can somehow provide her with the actual health care that she needs.

MORGAN: Is fame corrosive, do you think, to people's souls? Have you seen evidence of that where people just get really --

STONE: I don't know that it's fame per se. Because I think that people who get in positions of powerful, whether it is fame, finance, you can be powerful as a person who is a parking meter attendant and have this sort of power cause you to misuse your power.

I think when people feel that they're powerful suddenly in any way, whether it's simultaneous or large, people can use their power in a corrupt way. And I think that there's -- that is whether or not that you have the internal stability to manage your position of power, small or large. MORGAN: When you have the kind of incident you've had to deal with recently, is any part of you wish you could turn back on the anonymity cloak that you once had?

STONE: No. Because I feel that I am pursuing the destiny that was actually meant for me. And I feel that we are who we are and that the more that we accept who we are meant to be, all -- the wholeness of who we're meant to be, the better that we're going to be in the world.

MORGAN: We'll have a shore break. When we come back, I'm going to ask you if you know what the most paused moment in the history of movies is.

STONE: OK.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: No. I said I liked Johnny to use his hands. I don't make any rules, Nick. I go with the flow.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That was Sharon Stone in "Basic Instinct." And it is fascinating to see her screen test for the role, then the very same scene from the film itself. That's what we just saw. That moment -- apparently last week a survey came out and said the moment --

STONE: What moment is that?

MORGAN: The moment that follows?

STONE: I don't know what you mean? What do you mean? Say it out loud. Go ahead.

MORGAN: The moment when your legs --

STONE: What?

MORGAN: -- kind of stop being crossed. Let me put it delicately.

STONE: Here's what I thought: I noticed that this was just this week became the most paused moment in movie history. And I figured that this week was the week that you were -- you and your team were Googling me the most for the show. So I figured probably you --

MORGAN: I'm responsible.

STONE: Or you and your team were responsible for this being the most paused moment. Was it you that made it the most paused moment?

MORGAN: I'm happy to claim all credit for this, seriously. I can't think of a better label you could ever wish for. STONE: You were in there with the remote?

MORGAN: How do you feel -- seriously, you're the most paused woman in the history of movies, that moment.

STONE: The closer I get to middle age, the more I think that's true.

MORGAN: Are you proud of that moment?

STONE: I think that the film as a whole, because it's been like, 18, 19 years -- I think the film has actually held up for people and has created a sort of passage for a sexual identification for people, and a way for people to speak about the way that they feel about themselves, the way they want to communicate about their sexuality.

It has been a film that empowered women in their feminine -- not just their sexual but their feminine identity.

MORGAN: Catherine Tramell was as terrifying as she was sexy. She was kind of this fearsome creature.

STONE: That kind of fearsomeness allowed women to feel empowered, allowed women to say what they really wanted to say. And men actually really liked it. They liked that feeling of, oh, it's an exciting feeling to have a woman say this is what I want and this is what I think.

Men felt like women can tell me what they want and what they like and what they think. And it is exciting to hear that, I think.

MORGAN: Did you become more like her after the movie? Because you kind of admired the way she went about her work?

STONE: How I became like her was not in a sexual sense. But in a sense of that I came to understand the shadow self, the sense -- in the sense that I became really clear that is have the shadow self is cast by the light self. Shadows are never cast by darkness. They're cast by light.

And we have our good self and our shadow self that we look at. To find our great self, we have to integrate the two. This integration is what really allows us to be free.

MORGAN: There were reports on both sides in both camps that after you first saw that moment, the most paused moment in history, that you went and whacked the director. Bang.

STONE: Well, because he had told me when we shot the scene that the light was reflecting off of my underwear, and that he could see that I had underwear on, that if I took off my underwear, there would be a shadow, that we wouldn't see my pubic hair, as we do in the film, where everybody keeps claiming they see my vagina. What they really see just a little glance of pubic hair, which just seemed to have stopped, you know, nations. That's so hilarious. But what happened is he said we would just see a shadow; we would not really see anything. But what we were seeing was clearly my underwear and that the scene didn't say what it was meant to say.

So I said, OK, and then when I saw it on the monitor, which was sort of old-fashioned grainy monitor, we didn't see anything. Then when he got the shot that he got, which I don't think he knew he was going to get -- I think it was as surprising to him as it was to me. He put it in the movie. He didn't bring me into the screening room and say, look what I got, and it is very powerful and I think we should use it, and give me a minute to think about it.

He screened the movie with me publicly with many people in a room. He didn't give me a chance to see it, digest it.

MORGAN: Were you horrified?

STONE: I think more I was just so shocked and I was embarrassed not to be able to process it alone with him than I was so horrified. Because I agree that it was very, very good for the movie. But I didn't have the chance to process it individually and get my brain around it.

MORGAN: Would you have become the superstar you became without that moment, do you think? Because it was so provocative, so daring, so challenging --

STONE: Yes, I would. Because there are seven million porno movies and the girl aren't super stars.

MORGAN: Yes. So actually it was just a great moment in a movie.

STONE: It was a great moment in a great movie that stands the test of time.

MORGAN: Your co-star was Michael Douglas, who, thank God, seems to be making a remarkable recovery. Have you talked to him recently?

STONE: I -- I don't think I've spoken directly to him lately. But I know through many of our friends and through the messages that we've shared that he's well.

MORGAN: That's an amazing story. He looked so ill. His chances seemed so poor. There he is. I've watched pictures of him in the surf the other day in the water.

STONE: I think that it is really who you are inside. And Michael is a champion. He has always been a champion. He's always been truly dedicated. He's always had his mind in all of the right places.

He's never had his belief system run or controlled by other people. And he has always done the right thing in the world. He has done the right thing with his career. He's made the right choices for himself. MORGAN: Do you think it is karma?

STONE: I think part of it genuinely is karma. But I think it is the karma that's created by him understanding what a right action is, and making the right choices and moving forward and manifesting the right thing.

MORGAN: Michael Douglas was one of the many heartthrobs that you've worked with over the years. When we come back, I want to talk to you about some of them.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGNI VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: I'm just trying to get in my house. He won't let me go in my house.

ROBERT DENIRO, ACTOR: I'm sorry, Randy. I am not going to let her in. I am not going to let her in the way she's behaving.

STONE: Not going to let me in?

DENIOR: Who knows what you're going to do in there.

STONE: What do you mean? I've been in the same clothes for two days. I want to get a few of my things. Big deal.

(END VDIEO CLIP)

MORGAN: That was another of Sharon Stone's unforgettable roles in Martin Scorsese's "Casino." Sharon is with me now. You've worked with them all, haven't you. That's De Niro. You've had Schwarzenegger, Stallone, DiCaprio, everybody.

STONE: Not everybody yet.

MORGAN: You were Oscar nominated in that role.

STONE: Yes.

MORGAN: The Oscars are coming up. Any tips? Who do you fancy this year?

STONE: The wonderful thing about this year is there are so many great people in all the categories. There's great songs. There is great art direction. There is great lighting. There's great editing. This is a really spectacular year.

I mean, we have these films that were films that we've never seen like "Inception" before. There were films, small films like "The Kids Are All Right," that brought us a new kind of dimension in film making where small film is so big.

MORGAN: Are you a "King's Speech" or "Social Network" fan? Which way are you going? STONE: You know, I think both those films and "The Fighter" - these are kind of films that just -- all of them were just so astonishing that I had to watch all of them more than one time. Usually you get your film and you watch them once and you're like, OK, and you know how you feel.

MORGAN: If you could only watch one again the rest of your life, what would it be?

STONE: If could I only watch one film for the rest of my life, it's probably not a film from this year. Because I'm rather nostalgic about film.

MORGAN: What would it be then? What would be the movie?

STONE: I'm a huge Bertolucci fan. Probably a Bertolucci film, maybe. I just love --

MORGAN: Are you going to be on the carpet on Sunday?

STONE: Well, I have to get in there.

MORGAN: Do you like it?

STONE: That's how you get in.

MORGAN: We all loving watching people like you walking down there. I can't even imagine the pressure. Billion of people around the world going, what's she wearing?

STONE: You know, I don't really think about it like that anymore, because this has been my life for so long. I just -- it is really fun and I'm going with my sister, which is really fun. And so that's just great.

MORGAN: As far as I'm aware, there's no man in your life at the moment. Is there? Is there a vacancy?

STONE: I don't really to have get back to you about the men in my life, Piers.

MORGAN: I was inquiring if there is a vacancy.

STONE: When we're better friend, we can start checking in on that.

MORGAN: How would you describe your romantic history? Checkered? Fun? Disastrous? Where would you go?

STONE: I would say all of the above. I would say I've had all of the above.

MORGAN: Married three time.

STONE: No, I was not. They say that. They say I was married to this guy that I never was married to or don't even really know. MORGAN: Really?

STONE: Yes.

MORGAN: Because every one says you were married and divorced three times.

STONE: I know they do.

MORGAN: Not true?

STONE: Their just over-anxious about me being alone. Really, I was married twice.

I was married once when I was young, in my early 20s, to a really lovely guy named Michael Greenberg, who I just -- was the most adorable guy in the world, who I am friends with and like very much. And I was married to my son Roan's father. What's his name again? Oh, Phil --

MORGAN: Larry King forgot one of his wives yesterday. It's a common occurrence this week.

STONE: Who he is the editor of the "San Francisco Chronicle." a very bright, bright guy and funny. We were married for five and a half years. He is remarried now and has two kids.

MORGAN: I read a very poignant interview with you about all that when you had this terrible brain hemorrhage. As you were recovering from that, your marriage fell apart as well. And you talked about how --

STONE: A lot like pulling out the silverware drawer.

MORGAN: Very much like that. And you said you wanted to have your lips done, presumably collagen. And you hated yourself right afterwards, said what the hell have I done. Is that right?

MORGAN: I did. You know, I had already cut off all my hair. There was really nowhere left to go. I did that. I did. I pretended I did it for a movie, but I just did it out of desperation. I didn't know what to do with myself.

MORGAN: You looked to me how I hoped you would look, au natural.

STONE: Yes.

MORGAN: Which is my preferred look.

STONE: I just thank you.

MORGAN: Seriously.

STONE: I'm doing it for you.

MORGAN: You don't look like you've had any scalpel stuff there? STONE: No.

MORGAN: No nip and tucks.

STONE: I have to just let it go.

MORGAN: Can you frown?

STONE: Can you?

MORGAN: Actually, mine is natural. It is just I happen to have very good skin.

STONE: I'll see about that or not when I get closer.

MORGAN: Would you ever have it? Would you ever go under the knife?

STONE: I hope not. My ex used to walk by me when I would be standing in front of the mirror doing this, and he would be going, slippery slope, slippery slope. OK.

I try to think I wouldn't hack up my face. It never comes back together the same.

MORGAN: Take it from me, you don't need anything.

STONE: Thank you.

MORGAN: When we come back after the break, I'm going to talk you about other people probably even closer to your heart than the husbands. That would be your sons.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

STONE: A secret bank account used to pay off a corrupt attorney general. Three years ago, General Quo Min (ph) and his men destroyed the city of Kaipu (ph). I suspect you of going there on your father's orders.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MORGAN: A bit from that's a bit of your new movie, "The Burma Conspiracy." That's only released in France at the moment. Is that right?

STONE: Yes. It's a film that we made overseas. We shot in Brussels and Cologne. They went and shot in Thailand and Burma. And it's a very intriguing film, because it's a world film. In the film, I spoke English and French. And they shot in Burma and spoke also, you know, in this language.

It was so great to see a movie that's really a world movie. They had the cinematographer who shot "Avatar." It's a big movie. It's really fast. It's really exciting. And it's number one.

MORGAN: Is it really? Fabulous.

STONE: Yes. So I think as it goes out in the world, it's this different type of movie. Like a really, really great movie, really young people really into this kind of fast, hot, lots of languages. It's like a video game almost.

MORGAN: You know what I like about you, Sharon? You're not just a pretty face. You love all this kind of -- at Cannes, you do this amazing auction every year, where you fully cajole celebrities departing with all their ill-gotten gains. You have this big water project that you're involved with, which I know is dear to your heart.

I like this about you. One of the reasons you're getting a Presidential Medal of Honor you're getting, aren't you, soon, which I think is quite justified in your case. Almost every month or two months, up you pop saying things that are important, which I think is important for people in your position.

STONE: We're working now -- as you know, I'm going into my 16th year with the American Foundation of AIDS Research, raising money for scientific research for AIDS. As I've come to fuller understanding of what we're doing and what is needed, we've developed a lot of drugs. A drug, for example, like Nevirapine, that stops AIDS transmission from mothers to their infants.

But if you're in so many of these countries where you don't have clean water, say you save a child from having AIDS that they're transmitted from the mother. But if the baby then needs to have powdered milk in order not to get the transmission from the breast milk, and that water is filthy, or that water will transmit cholera and so forth, when you have 884 million people who are at risk from a water born disease, you must figure out how to get clean water around the world.

MORGAN: You're a great mom yourself. You've got three young boys.

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: How are they getting on?

STONE: They're really good. Just to finish on that -- you know, I did this jewelry line for Don Miani (ph). And the proceeds are putting in wells -- putting in lots and lots of wells in Africa. We're so thrilled about that. We started a program called Clean with that, that teaches these kids how to have sanitizization like in their program, how to be clean, how to not carry disease. This is a big part of this clean water program that I'm working on.

MORGAN: I think it's great. I think it's a very important thing.

STONE: Yes. One kid dies every 20 minutes from lack of clean water. MORGAN: How are you getting on being a single mom?

STONE: Well, you know, when I had this bright idea that I should go ahead and pursue this course of action, I was a younger person. Now my kids are growing up. They're soon to turn five, six, and 11.

You know, it's a handful of kids. It's very excited. It's very fun. But it's no joke having a bunch of kids.

MORGAN: Do you need a guy to help you out?

STONE: You're trolling here. For a married man, you're kind of a big troller.

MORGAN: I'm not suggesting me.

STONE: But we are putting it out here to the people of the globe.

MORGAN: Make an appeal.

STONE: I believe that it's time maybe for me to partner up. It might be a good time for me to think about it.

MORGAN: You are available to the right man? You just made a public appeal.

STONE: That's me, partnering up.

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: That is me and you, 20 years ago at the Cannes film festival. "Basic Instinct" launched. There we are. What the hell was I wearing?

STONE: Look how cute we are. You're wearing your "Rolling Stone" t-shirt. But if I remember correctly, we had a party and I think Mick Jagger was actually there.

MORGAN: He was.

STONE: -- at one of these parties that we were having --

MORGAN: You still only had eyes for me. Sharon Stone, thank you very much.

STONE: The love -- the love lingers on, Piers. The love lingers on.

MORGAN: It certainly does. It does for me any way.

Coming up, a prince, his bride to be, and a bottle -- bottle of bubbly. I'm all confused by Sharon Stone. A very good day for Prince William and Kate Middleton.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) MORGAN: That's the invitation for the wedding of the century when Prince William marries Kate Middleton. Joining me now with a preview of the nuptials is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT's special royal correspondent, Katie Nicholl. How are you?

KATIE NICHOLL, CNN CONTRIBUTOR: Lovely to be here.

MORGAN: You and I worked for the same newspaper back in Britain. We're both columnists there. So we're old friends. And I'm delighted you've joined our team, because this is the wedding of the century, isn't it?

NICHOLL: This is going to be the biggest royal story, yes, since Diana and Charles. People keep asking me, especially over her, is this going to be as big? I really believe it's going to be fantastic for Britain and over here, as well.

MORGAN: And looking at pictures of William and Kate with their first proper royal engagement up in Wales, what did you make of it?

NICHOLL: This was crunch time. This was really test time. They did a brief engagement just before Christmas. But this was the important thing, you know, the launching of the lifeboat. She had to do the whole thing with a bottle of champagne. She must have been terribly nervous.

But I thought she did a grand job. I thought she looked fantastic. She managed to get the fastener right. Her hair wasn't everywhere. You remember the princess of Wales always used to say the wind was her enemy. And Kate found a way of making that work. Frankly, she's on to her role.

MORGAN: What I liked was one of the locals said to one of the local TV stations that Kate's very normal in that town. It's where William is stationed at the moment. And she goes to the local stores and does her own shopping, all that kind of thing. She seems a normal girl, doesn't she?

NICHOLL: She is so down to Earth. I met her a couple times, so down to Earth. She does the shopping. She does the cooking. I think it's quite poignant and rather nice that she chose -- or both of them chose Angelcy (ph) for their first official engagement, because tomorrow they will visit Andrews University, where their love blossomed.

They're very excited about going back. I think it says a lot about them as a couple that they want to go back to places where they have an affinity and to give something back to the people.

MORGAN: Have you been invited to the wedding?

NICHOLL: I'm going to be covering the wedding for you and for ABC.

MORGAN: That's my excuse.

NICHOLL: Yes, I'm going to be going, not as a guest, but to report on it. I'm very excited about it.

MORGAN: And you're going to be a roving reporter right up to and past the wedding.

(CROSS TALK)

MORGAN: Between you and I, we know them all better than anybody. Don't we?

NICHOLL: I think you're very right.

MORGAN: Let's go get them. Katie, thank you very much. That's all for tonight. Now here's my colleague Anderson Cooper with "AC 360."