Gina Gershon on refusing Prince and dodging a risqué Showgirls shot

Gina Gershon recalls standing up to predators and difficult figures in her new memoir, AlphaPussy: How I Survived the Valley and Learned to Love My Boobs. Growing up in California’s San Fernando Valley in the 70s and 80s, she writes that she learned to assert herself in an industry that sometimes demanded otherwise — from avoiding advances at the Playboy Mansion to declining work with Prince and sparring with famous directors.

On the set of 1995’s Showgirls, Gershon says director Paul Verhoeven told her, "In today’s scene, I think it would be good if you showed your vagina," noting that Elizabeth Berkley would be doing so and that Sharon Stone had in Basic Instinct. She countered with a bizarre, camera-focused idea — "We can even use a microscopic probe lens!" — and recalls that Verhoeven looked at her like she was "bonkers," then said it was fine for her not to do the crotch shot.

"He never mentioned my vagina again," she writes. A meeting with Prince proved similarly decisive.

USA, San Fernando Valley

gina gershon, alphapussy, showgirls, paul verhoeven, elizabeth berkley, sharon stone, basic instinct, playboy mansion, prince, california