Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone has opened up about the painful childhood experiences that shaped his life, revealing that he endured physical violence from his father and grew up without the affection he craved from his parents.
The Rocky and Rambo star made the revelations in a candid interview with The New York Times ahead of the release of his memoir, The Steps.
Stallone, 80, said he deliberately left some of the darkest experiences out of the book because he did not want readers to feel sorry for him.
“I didn’t put a lot of stuff in the book because I didn’t want a pity party … but it was insane,” he said.
Sylvester Stallone recalls father’s violence
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Following his parents’ divorce, Stallone spent time living with his father, Frank Stallone Sr., in Maryland.
He described his father as a volatile and physically aggressive man, saying violence was often the way conflicts were handled in the household.
One incident that has stayed with Stallone involved a simple mistake over bread.
According to the actor, he had been sent to buy bread before church. After encountering some friends along the way, he returned with nut bread instead of the plain bread he was supposed to buy.
Stallone said his father reacted violently.
“He kicked me in the stomach and hit me,” the actor recalled, explaining that he was left lying in the street while his father got into his car and went to church.
Stallone described the memory as difficult to comprehend even decades later.
Stallone confronted his father years later
The actor said he eventually confronted his father when he was in his 40s.
During the confrontation, Stallone told his father that he wished they could be the same age for three minutes.
When his father asked why, Stallone explained that he wanted him to understand what it felt like to receive the kind of treatment he had experienced growing up.
Rather than backing down, Stallone said his father challenged him to fight.
According to the actor, his father was still prepared to fight despite being 68 years old at the time.
Stallone also connected the aggression he experienced during childhood to the intensity he later brought to his most famous action roles.
When asked where he got the ferocity required to play John Rambo, Stallone reportedly replied: “Genetic.”
“My mother never hugged me”
Sylvester Stallone also spoke about the emotional side of his childhood, saying that physical violence was not the only difficulty he experienced.
Sylvester Stallone claimed his mother, Jackie Stallone, never hugged him.
“My mother never — and my brother will attest — hugged me. Ever, ever,” he said.
He also recalled that his father rarely displayed affection.
However, Sylvester Stallone remembered one moment from when he was around nine years old that remained deeply significant to him.
After working around his father’s horses, the young Stallone fell asleep in the car. His father placed his head on his knee and rested a hand on his head.
That brief display of affection stayed with Stallone for decades.
“And I never got over that,” he recalled.
Stallone was raised by strangers
Earlier in his life, Stallone said he was sent to live in a boarding house, where his parents reportedly visited only about once a month.
Sylvester Stallone described growing up surrounded by people who were essentially strangers and said the arrangement eventually became normal to him.
“I just was raised by strangers,” Stallone explained.
He said his parents were not nurturing, making the boarding house environment feel comparatively better than what he had experienced at home.
Recent reporting has also detailed Stallone’s difficult teenage years, including his time at a residential school for troubled teenagers after he had been expelled from numerous schools in Philadelphia.
“It made me very tough”
Reflecting on the effect of his childhood, Stallone acknowledged that the experiences made him tough but suggested that the toughness came with consequences.
When asked whether emotional deprivation had made him stronger, he reportedly responded that it had made him “very tough” but “in the wrong way.”
The actor also said he did not experience what he considered genuine, unconditional love until much later in life.
Sylvester Stallone credited his wife, Jennifer Flavin, and their children with giving him that sense of family and affection.
Stallone said experiencing that kind of love around the age of 70 made him realise what he had missed during his childhood.
He described that absence as a major sadness in his life.
From painful childhood to Hollywood legend
Despite the difficulties he describes, Stallone went on to become one of Hollywood’s most recognisable stars.
Sylvester Stallone created and starred as Rocky Balboa in the Rocky franchise and later became internationally known as John Rambo in the Rambo series.
The original Rocky received 10 Academy Award nominations and won three Oscars, including Best Picture.
Away from the screen, Sylvester Stallone is the father of five children. He shares sons Sage and Seargeoh with his first wife, Sasha Czack, and daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet with Jennifer Flavin.
His memoir, The Steps, gives Stallone another opportunity to revisit the experiences that shaped his personality, career and understanding of family.
Rather than presenting only the Hollywood success story, Stallone’s latest revelations offer a glimpse into the difficult childhood behind one of cinema’s most famous action stars.
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