The Academy Award-nominated actor, 80, revealed during an interview with The New York Times<\/a> that he has suffered from an eating disorder.<\/p>\n While prepping for his role in the 1982 movie “Rambo,” Stallone \u2014 who has authored a new memoir, titled “The Steps” \u2014 said he took pains to appear more “animalistic,” drawing inspiration from jaguars and cats.<\/p>\n MEN FACE NEW PRESSURE TO STAY \u2018HOT\u2019 AS THEY AGE \u2014 AND IT\u2019S NOT JUST ABOUT LIVING LONGER<\/a><\/p>\n “Then it became an obsession. Really bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic,” he said during the interview.<\/p>\n Actor Sylvester Stallone, as Rocky Balboa, shows off his muscles in the boxing ring on the set of Rocky III in May 1982 in Los Angeles, California. (James Drake\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n Bulimia nervosa is an eating disorder<\/a> marked by episodes of binge eating \u2014 consuming a large amount of food while feeling a loss of control \u2014 followed by purging behaviors such as vomiting, excessive use of laxatives or diuretics, fasting or excessive exercise, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).<\/p>\n “I couldn\u2019t hold anything down. Or I didn\u2019t want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness<\/a>, literally an obsessive body-worship kind of thing,” Stallone shared.<\/p>\n CONTROVERSIAL STREAMER CLAVICULAR EXPLAINS VIRAL ‘LOOKSMAXXING’ TREND AS GEN Z ADOPTS EXTREME REGIMEN<\/a><\/p>\n The actor said that while filming “Rocky III<\/a>,” he reached his lowest body fat of 2.6%. The National Academy of Sports Medicine classifies body fat as “dangerously low” if it falls below 8% for men ages 20\u201369 and below 14% for women ages 20\u201369.<\/p>\n Sylvester Stallone strikes at a punching bag in a boxing ring while his coach, Burgess Meredith, watches during training at a gymnasium in a still from the film, “Rocky,” directed by John G. Avildsen, 1976. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n Stallone also admitted that he took steroids during some time periods. “You have to,” he said. “But you do it in a sensitive way \u2014 six weeks on, six weeks off \u2026 that also took a terrible toll.”<\/p>\n Years of injuries sustained while doing his own stunts \u2014 something he described as “very masochistic” \u2014 have also taken a toll on Stallone\u2019s body, he said, leading to multiple surgeries<\/a> on his back, shoulder and neck.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR HEALTH NEWSLETTER<\/a><\/p>\n “I\u2019ve abused my body,” he said. “Everything is held together with baling wire, but I still want to stay in good shape.”<\/p>\n Stallone also revealed that he has dealt with anxiety<\/a> over the decades, recounting the first incident while watching footage from one of his films when he was 36 years old.<\/p>\n “I\u2019ve abused my body,” Stallone said in the New York Times interview. “Everything is held together with baling wire, but I still want to stay in good shape.” (Getty Images)<\/p>\n “All of a sudden, I stood up and the hair on my neck went up and I started getting hot and I go, \u2018I\u2019m dying, this is it, I\u2019m on my way out,\u2019” he said in the interview.<\/p>\n The actor said the panic attacks happened “again and again and again,” often resurfacing before high-profile television appearances. As he aged, Stallone continued to experience anxiety and sometimes felt compelled to leave crowded rooms.<\/p>\n CLICK HERE FOR MORE HEALTH STORIES<\/a><\/p>\n Brian Pollack, a licensed clinical social worker and certified eating disorders specialist at Hilltop Behavioral Health<\/a> in Summit, New Jersey, said it was “incredibly admirable” for Stallone to share his experience.<\/p>\n “There are so many examples of what can take place in Sylvester Stallone’s life that have led him to moments of objectivity and body awareness<\/a>,” Pollack, who has not treated Stallone, told Fox News Digital.<\/p>\n Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone) skips rope under the watchful eye of his manager, Mickey (Burgess Meredith), and trainer Johnny (Stuart K. Robinson) in Rocky II. (Getty Images)<\/p>\n The expert suggested that a desire to maintain his success may have fueled Stallone\u2019s rigid routines, steroid use<\/a>, intense performance expectations, fear of failure, and the pressures associated with the entertainment industry.<\/p>\n “The idea that a man enhances his appearance to remain consistent with his own public image and internal comfort goes back decades \u2014 [Stallone] isn\u2019t the first, and he isn\u2019t the last,” Pollack said.<\/p>\n TEST YOURSELF WITH OUR LATEST LIFESTYLE QUIZ<\/a><\/p>\n “He has to almost keep himself in this homeostatic state where people expect Sylvestor Stallone to be Rocky, which is his quintessential role,” he went on.<\/p>\n “And through his career, one could surmise the need to be able to put all of that together and keep it consistent as he goes through the development and life cycles of maturation, not only in his brain, but also in his body.”<\/p>\n![\"LOS](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/stallone-in-rocky-iii.jpg\")
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