Key Takeaways
- Sylvester Stallone, 80, revealed in a New York Times Magazine profile and video published Saturday that his obsession with building his Rocky and Rambo physique led him to bulimia and steroid use.
- Stallone said he modeled his Rambo body "like a jaguar, a cat" to look more animalistic than his smoother Rocky physique, and that the pursuit "became an obsession, really bad."
- Stallone admitted he became bulimic, saying "I couldn't hold anything down. Or if I did, I didn't want to keep it down.”
Sylvester Stallone got candid about what it cost him to build the iconic physique that defined his roles in Rocky and Rambo, saying the pursuit turned into an eating disorder.
The 80-year-old actor sat down for an interview with The New York Times, where he confirmed he used steroids, and implied he’s far from the only one.
"Nobody does it without additives and drugs, period. I don't care who they say. Bullshit. It has to," Stallone said.
As for how the idea to become ripped came to be, Stallone said it was a character decision.
"I looked at Rocky, a very smooth and normal-looking guy, and then I said if we move on…the character would start to become more vain,” he recalled. “And then if Rambo, you're playing a warrior, you'd be a little bit more animalistic. You wouldn't be so smooth. So I started to think, design your body like a jaguar, a cat. Very limber and moving, athletic," he said.
"And then it became an obsession. Really bad," Stallone said, calling his body "my armor" and what followed "literally an obsessive body worship kind of a thing."
Stallone ultimately said the obsession turned into an eating disorder. "It became to the point where I became bulimic," he said. "I couldn't hold anything down. Or if I did, I didn't want to keep it down."
Stallone said he became so fixated on holding that level of conditioning that he stayed locked in it until he finally broke the cycle.
The actor described the steroids and other enhancements as taking a “terrible toll” on his life. Part of breaking that cycle led him to take the role of Sheriff Freddy Heflin in the 1997 film Cop Land, which Stallone said was him finally playing “the weakest guy in the room.”
Stallone's upcoming memoir, The Steps is set for a Sept. 29 release and will detail his early career and the creation of Rocky.
