Sylvester Stallone Recalls Painful Memories of Abusive Childhood: ‘It Made Me Very Hard’

Sylvester Stallone isn’t looking for pity.

The action star opened up about a childhood marked by abandonment, violence and a near-total absence of affection in a new interview, telling the New York Times that he deliberately left out some of the darker stories in his book because he didn’t 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 crazy,” he admitted.

After his parents divorced, Stallone lived with his father in Maryland. He described his father as unstable and physically abusive.

“Next thing you know – wham! He had really big hands. You just learned to duck a little bit.”

One memory particularly stuck with Stallone.

The Hollywood star said his father sent him to a store before church to buy bread. He returned with walnut bread after meeting friends.

“And he kicked me in the stomach and punched me and laid me down and got in the car and went to church.”

Stallone said he was left lying in the street, saying, “Really, it’s incredible. It’s incredible.”

Years later, Stallone confronted his father. When he was in his 40s, Stallone told him, “I wish you and I could be the same age for three minutes.” When his father asked him why, he replied, “Because I’d like to give you some of your own medicine, and you’d know what it would be like to get your ass kicked.” »

Stallone said his father then challenged him to fight, explaining, “He was ready to go at 68.”

The “Rocky” star paired that ferocity with one of the characters he’s best known for.

“So when people ask, ‘Where do you find the fierceness to play Rambo?’ “Genetics,” he said.

Stallone also recalled that his mother never showed him affection.

“My mother never – and my brother will attest to this – never hugged me. Never, ever,” Stallone shared.

His father rarely showed affection either. But when Stallone was around 9 years old, he said he fell asleep in the car after working with his father’s horses. His father placed Stallone’s head on his knee and placed his hand on his head.

“And I never got over it,” he admitted.

Earlier in the interview, Stallone described being sent to live in a boarding house when he was very young, where his parents only visited him once a month.

“I was just raised by strangers, you know, in a boarding house. And it became sort of a natural environment. And my parents were really never attentive, so that was actually a bonus to where I lived.”

This emotional deprivation, Stallone acknowledged, shaped the man he became.

Asked if it made him tough, he replied: “In a bad way, yes, it did. It made me very tough.”

But toughness comes at a price. Stallone said he didn’t experience what he considers “real, real, real, true love” until he was around 70, when he experienced it with his wife and children, saying, “And that’s a shame. It really is.”

Stallone went on to build one of Hollywood’s most recognizable careers, writing and starring as Rocky Balboa and portraying John Rambo. The original “Rocky” film received 10 Academy Award nominations and won three Academy Awards, including Best Picture.

Off-screen, Stallone has five children from two of his three marriages.

Stallone married his first wife, Sasha Czack, in 1974. They divorced in 1985 and shared two sons, Sage and Seargeoh. Stallone married “Rocky IV” co-star Brigitte Nielsen later in 1985, and the couple divorced in 1987.

Stallone married Jennifer Flavin in 1997. They share three daughters: Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet.