{"id":907534,"date":"2026-09-27T16:12:25","date_gmt":"2026-09-27T16:12:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907534\/"},"modified":"2026-09-27T16:12:25","modified_gmt":"2026-09-27T16:12:25","slug":"sylvester-stallone-memoir-the-steps-actor-reveals-bulimia-struggle-grim-school-attack","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/907534\/","title":{"rendered":"Sylvester Stallone memoir The Steps: Actor reveals bulimia struggle, grim school attack"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hollywood actor<\/a> Sylvester Stallone admitted to abusing steroids and struggling with bulimia while preparing for 1982\u2019s Rocky III film<\/a>. <\/p>\n

The 80-year-old recounted the most difficult parts of his life in his upcoming memoir The Steps and in a wide-ranging profile published in The New York Times<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\"Sylvester<\/p>\n

Sylvester Stallone\u2019s memoir The Steps recounts his difficult upbringing as well as his struggle with steroid and body dysmorphia during the height of his fame. \u00a0Getty<\/p>\n

\u201cThen it became an obsession,\u201d Stallone told The New York Times, referencing the extreme measures he took to maintain his physique.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic. You heard it here first. I got down to 2.6 per cent body fat when I was doing Rocky III, and I couldn\u2019t hold anything down,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cOr I didn\u2019t want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness, literally an obsessive body-worship kind of thing.\u201d <\/p>\n

The movie star said he would do a six-week steroid cycle that he viewed as necessary to play boxer Rocky Balboa. He did not specify which 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 Stallone responded to a question asking him if he took steroids. <\/p>\n

\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

He also claimed that he was once sent to a punishment block inside a residential school facility, where a fellow patient attacked him.<\/p>\n

The Rocky star<\/a> told The New York Times that he attended a high school that would punish misbehaving students by putting them in \u201ca place called Park Lodge or the Snake Pit.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"Rocky,<\/p>\n

Stallone\u2019s standout role Rocky Balboa in Rocky propelled him to fame and also led him to a dangerous obsession with his body. \u00a0United Artists<\/p>\n

\u201cOn the outside it looked like a big, old Tudor home from the \u201920s, and then you walked inside and you entered the heart of insanity,\u201d he recalled. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe smell, the filth, people running around naked, clawing, hands tied, drooling. This is what they thought would impress you never to break the rules again.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stallone said he was left there for two weeks and was attacked by a \u201cguy named Jay Bird.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey called him Jay Bird because he was always naked as a jaybird. And I go into the bathroom on the way to the food mess hall, and he comes in and comes around me and he\u2019s like ripping on my throat and he is going into my pants and grabbing my groin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Sylvester<\/p>\n

Stallone is also famed for his portrayal of John Rambo in the five Rambo films between 1982 and 2019. \u00a0TriStar<\/p>\n

Stallone alleged that two guards ran in and began \u201cbeating the crap out of him [Bird] with razor straps.\u201d <\/p>\n

In the profile, the actor claimed his mother was not a nurturing figure and his father was unpredictable and violent.<\/p>\n

Stallone\u2019s memoir is not the first time he\u2019s reflected on his colourful life. In 2023, he starred in biographical documentary called Sly which explored his 50-year career. <\/p>\n

If you or someone you know is in need of support contact Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Beyond Blue. The National Alcohol and Other Drug hotline (1800 250 015) provides free and confidential advice about alcohol and other drugs<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hollywood actor Sylvester Stallone admitted to abusing steroids and struggling with bulimia while preparing for 1982\u2019s Rocky III…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":907535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[64,63,134],"class_list":["post-907534","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907534","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=907534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/907534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/907535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=907534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=907534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=907534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}