BEIJING - French fashion house Christian Dior said Thursday it has dropped Sharon Stone from its Chinese advertisements.
It also released a statement from the actress apologizing for saying the earthquake that struck China may have been the result of bad "karma" over its treatment of Tibet.
The 50-year-old actress said she was "deeply sorry" for causing anguish and anger among Chinese people with her remarks in an interview last week.
Stone said she was sorry for the remarks, adding that she would devote herself to the relief effort in China to make amends for her comments. Stone models for Christian Dior SA, and the company's Shanghai office issued the statement.
The public relations manager for Dior in Shanghai who gave only her surname, Guo, said Stone would no longer appear in the company's advertisements in China.
"Due to my inappropriate words and acts during the interview, I feel deeply sorry and sad about hurting Chinese people," Stone said in the statement. "I am willing to take part in the relief work of China's earthquake, and wholly devote myself to helping affected Chinese people."
Stone said she had worked in international charities for the past 20 years and wants to help Chinese people. During her visit to China last year for the Shanghai Movie Festival she said she felt "deeply the Chinese people's wisdom and hospitality."
Stone's comments caused considerable anger in the Chinese media. The official Xinhua News Agency said in a commentary Thursday that Stone was the "public enemy of all mankind."
Chinese media have erupted in indignation over foreign criticism of the country ahead of the Beijing Olympics in August. During the international leg of the Olympic torch relay many Chinese reacted strongly to protests over Beijing's rule of Tibet.
Stone's original comments were made last week during a Cannes Film Festival red-carpet interview.
"I'm not happy about the way the Chinese are treating the Tibetans because I don't think anyone should be unkind to anyone else," Stone said. "And then this earthquake and all this stuff happened, and then I thought, is that karma? When you're not nice that the bad things happen to you?"
During the brief interview, Stone also said she cried when she received a letter from the Tibetan Foundation asking her to help the quake victims.
"They wanted to go and be helpful, and that made me cry. It was a big lesson to me that sometimes you have to learn to put your head down and be of service even to people who aren't nice to you," she said.
