Sylvester Stallone is reflecting on the long-term physical damage caused by his most famous action movie roles.
In a recent episode of The New York Times’ The Interview podcast, the 80-year-old actor discussed his extreme attempts to maintain his physique during the height of his Rocky and Rambo fame.
“It became to the point where I became bulimic… I got down to 2.6% body fat when I was doing Rocky III … and I couldn’t hold anything down,” he said.
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Building the Action Hero Physique
To maintain that unnatural level of fitness for months at a time on set, Stallone admitted he relied on steroids, cycling the drugs six weeks on and six weeks off.
“If you’re going to work and try to stay in shape for six months straight and you’re eating yogurt and pudding, it’s not happening,” he said. “People say, ‘You don’t get that way naturally.’ No, you don’t, unless you’re a freak of nature.”
While the performance enhancers helped him achieve his desired on-screen aesthetic, the physical consequences of performing his own stunts under those conditions eventually caught up to him.
Decades of Surgery and Recovery
Decades later, Stallone is still paying for the punishment he put his body through.
“I’ve abused [my body]. I’ve had nine back operations, two shoulder operations, three neck fusions, everything,” he said. “I’m held together with metal, but I still have the want to stay in good shape.”
Looking back, the actor said he would tell his younger self to step back and let stuntmen handle the heavy physical labor.
“I’m sort of fit, but you know, I take a lot of pills to keep going,” he continued. “It’s come at a terrible price. If I could do it over again, I would say, let someone else carry the banner, don’t do your own stunts.”
The actor’s podcast appearance coincides with the upcoming release of I Play Rocky, a biographical film starring Anthony Ippolito that chronicles the turbulent making of the original 1976 boxing movie. The project premieres in select theaters on Nov. 6 before expanding nationwide on Nov. 20.
