Sylvester Stallone Opens up About the Brutal Childhood Behind ‘Rocky’ and ‘Rambo’

For 5 decades, Sylvester Stallone has embodied the unbreakable underdog, but the actor is now revealing just how much pain sits behind that image. Sylvester Stallone’s childhood is at the center of his new memoir, ‘The Steps’, which arrives 50 years after ‘Rocky’ turned him from a struggling actor into one of Hollywood’s defining stars. At 80, he’s looking back not at the myth of the invincible action hero, but at the damaged, ambitious man underneath it.

The book’s title carries plenty of symbolism. It refers to the 72 steps outside the Philadelphia Museum of Art that Rocky runs up in the original film’s training montage. Published by William Morrow, the memoir is framed between Stallone’s arrival in New York City in 1969 and the triumph of ‘Rocky’ at the 1977 Academy Awards.

Ahead of the book’s release, Stallone sat down with Lulu Garcia-Navarro for a lengthy interview with The New York Times, and both the video and transcript spread rapidly across social media. Garcia-Navarro described it as possibly the best interview she has ever done, noting that Stallone admitted for the first time to steroid abuse, bulimia, and anxiety so severe it would cause him to collapse, all rooted in a painful and abusive childhood.

The most heartbreaking revelations concerned his parents. Stallone said his mother never hugged him, not once, adding that his brother could confirm it. His father rarely showed affection either, and Stallone described him as volatile and physically violent.

The trouble began early. Stallone recalled being sent to live in a boarding house at a very young age, where his parents visited only once a month. After his parents divorced when he was around 10 or 11, he lived with his father, Frank Stallone Sr., in Maryland, while his mother took his brother to Philadelphia.

One memory has stayed with him for a lifetime. His father sent him to buy bread before church, but after running into friends, he came back with nut bread instead. Stallone said his father kicked him in the stomach, hit him, and left him lying in the street before driving off to church.

Years later, when Stallone was in his 40s, he confronted his father about the abuse. According to Stallone, his father responded by challenging him to a fight on the spot at 68 years old.

Amid all the violence, one small moment of affection stands out. When Stallone was about 9, he fell asleep in the car after working around his father’s horses, and his father placed his head on his knee and rested a hand on it. Stallone admitted he never got over that fleeting gesture.

He believes his upbringing made him tough, though not in a healthy way. He also said he deliberately left some of the darkest stories out of the memoir because he didn’t want readers to feel sorry for him.

The interview also revealed how long those wounds lingered. Stallone said he didn’t experience true love until around age 70, through his wife and children, and called that a big pity.

His teenage years brought further hardship. He described being sent to Devereux Manor High School in Pennsylvania, recalling harsh punishments and saying he was attacked there. A Devereux representative told The Times it respects his right to tell his story and is sorry for any trauma he remembers experiencing.

Stallone’s life is getting renewed attention beyond the book. ‘I Play Rocky’, directed by Peter Farrelly, premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival and stars Anthony Ippolito as Stallone, with Matt Dillon playing his father. The film opens in limited release on November 6.

Watch the all-new trailer for I PLAY ROCKY, starring Anthony Ippolito

In theaters this November pic.twitter.com/mZX9gdPkrV

— Movies (@Movies) July 15, 2026

Meanwhile, Stallone remains busy starring in ‘Tulsa King’. ‘The Steps’ hits stores on Tuesday, September 29, promising fans the most honest portrait of the man behind the legend yet.

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