Hollywood star, Sylvester Stallone has opened up about a childhood marked by abandonment, violence, and an absence of parental affection in a candid interview with The New York Times, revealing that he omitted some of the darkest experiences from his upcoming memoir, The Steps, to avoid seeking pity.
“I didn’t put a lot of stuff in the book because I didn’t want a pity party… but it was insane,” Stallone admitted.
Following his parents’ divorce, Stallone lived with his father in Maryland, describing him as volatile and physically abusive.
“The next thing you know — wham! He had very big hands. You just learned to duck a little bit,” he said.
Recalling a specific incident, Stallone recounted returning from a store with nut bread instead of plain bread after running into friends before church.
“And he kicked me in the stomach and hit me and like laid me out, got in the car, and went to church,” Stallone said, adding that he was left lying in the street. “Really, it’s unbelievable. It’s unbelievable.”
Years later, Stallone confronted his father when he was in his 40s.
“I wish you and I could be the same age for three minutes,” Stallone told him. When his father asked why, he responded: “Because I’d like to give you some of your own medicine, and you would know what it’d be like to have your ass kicked.”
According to Stallone, his father challenged him to fight on the spot at 68 years old.
Linking that fiery temperament to one of his most iconic screen roles, Stallone remarked: “So, when people go, ‘Where do you get the ferocity to play Rambo?’ Genetic.”
Stallone also reflected on the lack of warmth from his mother.
“My mother never — and my brother will attest — hugged me. Ever, ever,” he shared.
He noted that his father rarely demonstrated affection either, except for a single moment when Stallone was around nine years old. After working around his father’s horses, he fell asleep in the car, and his father placed Stallone’s head on his knee with his hand resting on his head.
“And I never got over that,” Stallone admitted.
Earlier in the interview, Stallone recalled being sent to live in a boarding house at a very young age, where his parents visited only once a month.
“I just was raised by strangers, you know, in a boarding house. And it became sort of a natural environment. And my parents were really never nurturing, so this was actually a bonus compared to where I was living,” he explained.
Asked if the emotional deprivation made him tough, Stallone replied: “In the wrong way, yeah, it did. It made me very tough.”
However, Stallone acknowledged that the emotional detachment came at a high personal cost, stating that he did not experience true love until he was around 70 years old with his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and their children.
“And that’s a big pity. It really is,” he said.
Stallone went on to build a legendary Hollywood career, writing and starring in Rocky — which won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture — and launching the Rambo franchise.
Off-screen, Stallone is a father of five. He shares two sons, Sage and Seargeoh, from his first marriage to Sasha Czack, and three daughters, Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet, with his wife Jennifer Flavin, whom he married in 1997.
