Stallone was so obsessed with his body that he became ‘bulimic’

To get the physique of Rocky III, Sylvester Stallone went down to 2.6% body fat, suffered from bulimia and took steroids. Today he recounts the terrible price paid by his body.

Sylvester Stallone rarely opens up about the excesses to which he subjected himself to maintain his action hero physique. While he has just published his memoirs, The Stepsthe 80-year-old actor looked back on the years Rocky And Ramboand in particular on his obsession with his body. An obsession that led to bulimia and steroid use.

In an interview given to New York TimesStallone recounts his countless regrets and how his physique gradually became “an obsession. Really awful. I ended up becoming bulimic!“

The climax comes during the filming of Rocky IIIin 1982. Stallone explains that he went down to 2.6% body fat to transform his body and give Rocky a new appearance:

“I couldn’t keep anything up. Or I didn’t want to keep it up, because I had become so obsessed with staying at this level of fitness, literally in a sort of obsessive body worship.”

A few days after this interview, Stallone returned to this transformation in more detail during a conversation at the 92nd Street Y, in New York. He explains that it also responded to a specific desire for his character:

“By the time of Rocky III, the element of surprise was gone. Everyone knew what this guy was. I wanted him to develop serious narcissism. I wanted him to have his scars removed and become a completely different guy. It had to be a part of the story. He was protected, sheltered, vain. And when he finally met Mr. T, or Clubber Lang, that’s when reality caught up with him.”

To achieve this, he undertook a radical transformation: “To achieve that, I had to undergo a total body makeover. I went from about 50% body fat to 2.6%. I did it literally by eating tuna and drinking maybe 30 cups of coffee a day. And, of course, there were the steroids.”

A confession which provoked some reactions in the public. Stallone didn’t seem particularly surprised: “Guys… do you really think these guys are natural?” he says, talking about the heroes of superhero films:

“If you’re trying to play some kind of superhero or a person who is above and beyond a normal man, you can’t do it. It’s almost like putting on part of a costume: for six to eight weeks, you become that person. And then you get rid of it.”

In his interview with New York TimesStallone had already been very clear about the use of doping products: “Nobody does this without additives and without drugs, period. I don’t care what they say.” Asked directly whether he was taking steroids, he replied: “Oh my God, you have to. But you do it sensibly: six weeks on, six weeks off.”

He now recognizes that this method had a price. And the physical toll of his career is heavy:

“I mistreated my body. I have had nine back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries and three cervical fusions. Everything is held together with wire, but I always want to stay in shape.“

At 80 years old, Stallone continues to maintain himself. But he no longer looks at his body in the same way:

“I’m still kind of in shape, but I’m taking a lot of pills to keep me going.”

And when asked if this physical quest was worth it, his answer is straightforward: “It came at a terrible price.”

He particularly regrets having wanted to perform so many stunts himself. “If I could do it all over again, I’d say, ‘Let someone else carry the torch and don’t do your own stunts.'”

Stallone finally believes he began to free himself from this obsession with Coplandin 1997, when he had to play a man who was the opposite of the physique that had made him famous: “the weakest guy in town, half deaf, overweight… That’s when I felt sort of liberated!“