told the NYT<\/a>.<\/p>\nStallone said any actor pressured to stay in top physical shape at that time had to do drugs.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt isn\u2019t as though you\u2019re a junkie, but if you\u2019re going to work out and try to stay in shape for six months straight, and you\u2019re eating yoghurt and pudding, it\u2019s not happening,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Stallone earned several Academy Award nominations and a Golden Globe win for his work in the Rocky franchise.<\/p>\n
The movie star said he would do a six-week steroid cycle that he viewed as mandatory to portray boxer Rocky Balboa. He did not specify which type of performance-enhancing drugs he used.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh, my god, you have to. But you do it in a sensitive way \u2013 six weeks on, six weeks off,\u201d he said in a response to a question asking him if he took steroids. \u201cPeople go, \u2018Oh, you don\u2019t get that way naturally.\u2019 No, you don\u2019t. But that also took a terrible toll.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stallone said the 1997 movie Cop Land, which saw him portray partially deaf New Jersey Sheriff Freddy Heflin, allowed him to loosen his body standards. He said the work left him \u201csomewhat liberated\u201d, though he says things went \u201csideways\u201d and he \u201cfell out of grace with Hollywood\u201d.<\/p>\n
The 80-year-old has been quiet on the major blockbuster front since starring in Expendables 4 in 2023.<\/p>\n
He released his biography documentary, Sly, the same year. Stallone had roles in the 2024 action thriller Armor and the 2025 crime thriller Alarum. Most of his recent success has come from starring as a mafia boss in Paramount+\u2019s Tulsa King.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump named Stallone one of his special Hollywood ambassadors earlier this year alongside actors Jon Voight and Mel Gibson.<\/p>\n
The action hero recently said he had no idea the president would name him to the position.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, it just happened,\u201d he said. \u201cI was watching TV one night and they go, \u2018So Stallone and Mel Gibson and Jon Voight will be \u2026\u2019 And I went, \u2018What?\u2019 I said, \u2018Excuse me? Really?\u2019 Because if they had asked me in the beginning, I would have said, \u2018This is not possible.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed concern about the position, saying, \u201cHollywood, I guess it\u2019s like feudal states. They have their little kingdoms. You don\u2019t go in and tell six studios how to do things. And Mel Gibson and Jon Voight, we\u2019re kind of do-our-own-thing people. No, it won\u2019t work.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in Page Six<\/a> and was reproduced with permission<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hollywood legend Sylvester Stallone abused steroids and struggled with bulimia while preparing for one of his famous Rocky…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907167,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[475366,433262,475379,475344,475373,475365,475370,393590,398087,475357,475360,475354,475381,475382,475374,475359,475352,64,63,475339,87595,475375,475380,447,475332,22710,475343,475362,1730,376920,134,475346,475378,538,179476,475369,380045,475334,379591,475345,475377,475333,475347,377639,475335,387253,1973,475368,475358,110762,226555,127662,415870,44,376628,377600,455202,163377,14627,1861,50089,451236,135551,46907,475349,36682,402650,384465,475337,455255,475340,475338,475341,475350,122514,29305,475361,377572,376431,378971,248988,475356,475336,475376,379529,377055,475351,382541,379582,475363,475372,390234,380979,379600,475355,475371,394204,475348,381772,475342,378816,475353,427,475364,475367],"class_list":["post-907166","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-s-tulsa-king-president-donald-trump","tag-2-6","tag-2023-he","tag-80-year-old","tag-a-golden-globe-win","tag-a-junkie","tag-a-mafia-boss","tag-a-question","tag-a-response","tag-a-sensitive-way","tag-a-six-week-steroid-cycle","tag-a-stunning-new-york-times-profile","tag-a-terrible-toll","tag-actors-jon-voight-and-mel-gibson-the-action-hero","tag-an-obsession","tag-an-obsessive-body-worship-kind","tag-any-actor","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-boxer-rocky-balboa","tag-bulimia","tag-bulimia-battle","tag-bulimia-struggle-and-steroid-use","tag-celebrities","tag-cent-body","tag-concern","tag-deaf-new-jersey-sheriff-freddy-heflin","tag-do-our-own-thing-people","tag-drugs","tag-earlier-this-year","tag-entertainment","tag-expendables-4","tag-feudal-states","tag-fitness","tag-grace","tag-his-biography-documentary","tag-his-body","tag-his-body-standards","tag-his-fame","tag-his-famous-physique","tag-his-famous-rocky-balboa-films","tag-his-most-iconic-role","tag-his-recent-success","tag-his-relationship","tag-his-special-hollywood-ambassadors","tag-his-work","tag-hollywood","tag-hollywood-icon-sylvester-stallone","tag-hollywood-legend-sylvester-stallone","tag-jon-voight","tag-mandatory","tag-mel-gibson","tag-my-god","tag-news","tag-no-idea","tag-one-night","tag-our-new-app","tag-page-six","tag-paramount","tag-people","tag-performance-enhancing-drugs","tag-rocky-iii","tag-roles","tag-saturday","tag-several-academy-award-nominations","tag-shape","tag-sideways","tag-six-months","tag-six-studios","tag-six-weeks","tag-sly","tag-stallone","tag-stallone-and-mel-gibson-and-jon-voight","tag-stallone-one","tag-steroids","tag-sylvester-stallone","tag-terrible-toll","tag-that-point","tag-that-time","tag-that-way","tag-the-1980s","tag-the-1997-movie-cop-land","tag-the-2024-action-thriller-armor","tag-the-2025-crime-thriller-alarum","tag-the-actor","tag-the-beginning","tag-the-eating-disorder","tag-the-first","tag-the-height","tag-the-major-blockbuster-front","tag-the-nyt-stallone","tag-the-point","tag-the-position","tag-the-president","tag-the-rambo-and-rocky-franchises","tag-the-rocky-franchise-the-movie-star","tag-the-same-year","tag-the-time-be","tag-the-work","tag-their-little-kingdoms","tag-this-article","tag-top-physical-shape","tag-tv","tag-which-type","tag-yoghurt-and-pudding"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907166","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=907166"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907166\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907167"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907166"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907166"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907166"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}