Sylvester Stallone is speaking publicly for the first time about his past struggle with bulimia.
While developing Rocky Balboa, the iconic boxer at the center of his film franchise, Stallone said he imagined the character as more than simply muscular. “I looked at Rocky [like he was a] very smooth, very normal-looking guy. And then I said, ‘I think the character would start to become a bit more vain,’” Stallone, 80, told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday, September 26. He wanted Rocky’s physique to resemble “a jaguar, a cat” — lean, agile and aggressive rather than oversized like Arnold [Schwarzenegger].
That pursuit of a specific look eventually became consuming. “Then, it became an obsession. Really bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic. You heard it here first,” Stallone said.
The actor, who portrayed the title character throughout the Rocky series, said he came to view his physique as a form of “armor.”
Sylvester Stallone is also revisiting a teenage stay at a mental institution. “In my age group, the teenagers, if you ever snuck out to see a girl or do something like that, you’d be reprimanded by being taken to a place called Park Lodge or the Snake Pit,” Stallone, 80, told The New York Times.
During the production of Rocky III, Stallone said he reduced his body fat to 2.6 percent and struggled to keep food down. “I couldn’t hold anything down — or I didn’t want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness,” the action star recalled. He described the behavior as an off-camera extension of his “obsessive body-worship” and argued that reaching such a physique required more than diet and exercise. “Nobody does it without additives and drugs, period. I don’t care what they say.”
Stallone also acknowledged using steroids to help preserve his heavily trained build.
“It isn’t as though you’re a junkie, but if you’re going to work out and try to stay in shape for six months straight, and you’re eating yogurt and pudding, it’s not happening,” he said. Stallone described using steroids in cycles — “six weeks on, six weeks off” — while conceding that the approach came with serious consequences. “People go, ‘Oh, you don’t get that way naturally.’ No, you don’t, but that also took a terrible toll.”
Mr. T and Sylvester Stallone in ‘Rocky III.’ Everett Collection
His perspective began to change after he took on the role of an out-of-shape, vulnerable sheriff in the 1997 film Cop Land.
“It wasn’t until I did Cop Land, when I had to play the weakest guy in the room — partially deaf, overweight — that I felt somewhat liberated,” Stallone told the outlet. By then, he said, years of physically demanding work had taken a major toll. “Yeah, I’ve abused my body. I’ve had nine back operations, two shoulder operations, three neck fusions. Everything is held together with baling wire, but I still want to stay in good shape.”
Ethan Miller/Getty Images The actor known for playing Rambo has called himself a coward over the way he once ended his relationship with wife Jennifer Flavin. Stallone met Flavin, 56, in 1988, and they dated for six years before he, then 78, sent her a breakup letter through FedEx. The couple later reunited.
As Stallone approached his 80th birthday in July, he said he had stopped treating his body like armor.
“I’m sort of fit, but I take a lot of pills to keep going. It’s come at a terrible price,” he said. Looking back, Stallone added, “If I could do it over again, I would say, ‘Let someone else carry the banner and don’t do your own stunts.’ I don’t know what it was about hurting myself all the time.”
If you or someone you know is struggling with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call its hotline at (866) 662-1235. You can also text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, round-the-clock support.