Actress Sharon Stone is causing a stir on social media with her strong opinions on fellow actress Meryl Streep.

Stone, 63, was interviewed by website Zoomer for a story on her career and memoir The Beauty Of Living Twice, released in March, when interviewer Johanna Schneller brought up Streep, 73.

In the memoir, Stone writes about how women in Hollywood are pitted against one another.

The actress said in the interview: "It was put to us that there could be room for only one."

Ms Schneller tried to ask about the 2019 movie The Laundromat, which starred both actresses: "So when you finally got to work with Meryl Streep..."

However, Stone interrupted the question. "I like the way you phrased that - I finally got to work with Meryl Streep."

She added: "You didn't say, 'Meryl finally got to work with Sharon Stone.' Or we finally got to work together.

"The way you structured the question is very much the answer... The business was set up that we should all envy and admire Meryl because only Meryl got to be the good one. And everyone should compete against Meryl."

Stone continued: "I think Meryl is an amazingly wonderful woman and actress. But in my opinion, quite frankly, there are other actresses as talented as Meryl Streep. The whole Meryl Streep iconography is part of what Hollywood does to women."

The Basic Instinct (1992) star then listed other actresses she believed to be as good as Streep, who has a record 21 Academy Award nominations and three wins.

"Viola Davis is every bit the actress Meryl Streep is. Emma Thompson. Judy Davis. Olivia Colman. Kate Winslet, for f***'s sake. But you say Meryl and everybody falls on the floor."

Stone - who was also nominated for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her portrayal of a street hustler in Casino (1995) - added: "I'm a much better villain than Meryl and I'm sure she'd say so.

"Meryl was not gonna be good in Basic Instinct or Casino. I would be better. And I know it. And she knows it. But we're all set up to think that only Meryl is so amazing."