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Sylvester Stallone is opening up about his previous, and private, battle with bulimia.
“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, referring to his famed role as the fictional boxing legend. “So, I started to think, ‘Design your body like a jaguar, a cat. Not big like Arnold [Schwarzenegger], but more feral and aggressive and very limber and athletic.”
He continued, “Then, it became an obsession. Really bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic. You heard it here first.”
Stallone, who played the titular character in the Rocky franchise, further noted that his body soon became his “armor.”
“I got down to 2.6 percent body fat when I was doing Rocky III, and 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 said, stating his actions were an example of his “obsessive body-worship” mindset off-camera. “Nobody does it without additives and drugs, period. I don’t care what they say.”
According to Stallone, he also used steroids to help maintain his physique.
“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 acknowledged. “You [use steroids] in a sensitive way: six weeks on, six weeks off. 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
Stallone eventually realized the negative effects of his steroid use after starring in 1997’s 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,” he told the outlet. “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.”
Before Stallone turned 80 in July, he stopped viewing his body as armor.
“I’m sort of fit, but I take a lot of pills to keep going. It’s come at a terrible price,” he stated. “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 struggles with an eating disorder, visit the National Alliance for Eating Disorders website or call their hotline at (866) 662-1235. Text “ALLIANCE” to 741741 for free, 24/7 support.
