Sylvester Stallone opened up about the physical toll of building the iconic physique that became synonymous with his roles in Rocky and Rambo, revealing that the pursuit eventually developed into an eating disorder.
The 80-year-old actor spoke candidly during an interview with The New York Times, confirming that he used steroids while also suggesting that he wasn’t the only actor to rely on them.
“Nobody does it without additives and drugs, period. I don’t care who they say. Bullshit. It has to,” Stallone said.
As for what inspired him to build such a muscular physique, Stallone said it was ultimately a decision rooted in his characters.
“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, describing his body as “my armor” and the fixation that followed as “literally an obsessive body worship kind of a thing.”
Stallone eventually revealed that the obsession developed 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.”
He said he became so consumed with maintaining that level of conditioning that he remained trapped in the cycle until he eventually found a way to break free.
Stallone also described the steroids and other enhancements as taking a “terrible toll” on his life. Part of his effort to move away from that lifestyle came through his role as Sheriff Freddy Heflin in the 1997 film Cop Land, which he said marked the first time he played “the weakest guy in the room.”
Stallone’s upcoming memoir, The Steps, is scheduled for release on Sept. 29 and will explore his early career as well as the making of Rocky.
