Sylvester Stallone has revealed new details about what he described as an abusive childhood in a candid interview published on 26 September 2026, recounting an upbringing he said was marked by abandonment, physical violence and a lack of affection.
The 80-year-old Rocky and Rambo star said he deliberately left some of the darkest stories out of his memoir, The Steps, because he did not want 'a pity party.'
A Childhood of Fear and Violence
For context, Stallone said his parents divorced when he was about 10½ or 11, after which he spent time living with his father, Francesco 'Frank' Stallone Sr, in Maryland while his mother took his brother to Philadelphia. He described his father as volatile and physically abusive, recalling incidents that he said still haunt him decades later.
'The next thing you know — wham! He had very big hands. You just learned to duck a little bit,' Stallone said.
He recalled that his father sent him to buy bread before church, but he returned with nut bread after running into friends. Stallone said his father kicked him in the stomach, hit him and left him lying in the street before driving off to church alone.
'Really, it's unbelievable. It's unbelievable,' he said.
When Stallone was about 43 or 44, he confronted his father. 'I wish you and I could be the same age for three minutes,' he told him.
When his father asked why, Stallone replied: 'Because I'd like to give you some of your own medicine, and you would know what it'd be like to have your a– kicked.' Stallone said his father, then 68, was ready to fight him.
Stallone linked that ferocity to one of the characters he is best known for. 'So, when people go, 'Where do you get the ferocity to play Rambo?' Genetic,' he said.
Emotional Neglect and a Late Search for Love
Stallone also described being sent to live in a boarding house when he was very young, where he said he was raised by strangers. 'I just was raised by strangers, you know, in a boarding house.
And it became sort of a natural environment. And my parents were really never nurturing, so this was actually a bonus compared to where I was living,' he said.
His mother, Jacqueline 'Jackie' Stallone, rarely showed affection either. 'My mother never hugged me. Ever,' Stallone said. He said his father was similarly unaffectionate, though one brief gesture remained with him.
When Stallone was about nine, he fell asleep in the car after working around his father's horses. His father placed Stallone's head on his knee and rested his hand on his head. 'And I never got over that,' he admitted.
That emotional deprivation, Stallone acknowledged, shaped the man he became. When asked whether it made him tough, he replied: 'In the wrong way, yeah, it did. It made me very tough.'
But the toughness came at a cost. Stallone said he did not experience what he described as 'real, real, real, real true love' until he was around 70, when he felt it with his wife and children.
'And that's a big pity. It really is,' he said.
Stallone went on to build one of Hollywood's most recognisable careers, writing about and starring as Rocky Balboa and going on to play John Rambo. The original Rocky received 10 Academy Award nominations and won three, including Best Picture. Off-screen, Stallone has five children from two of his three marriages.
He married his first wife, Sasha Czack, in 1974. They divorced in 1985 and shared two sons, Sage and Seargeoh. Stallone married Brigitte Nielsen, who appeared in Rocky IV, later in 1985, and the couple divorced in 1987.
Stallone married Jennifer Flavin in 1997. They share three daughters: Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet.
The Steps: A Memoir is due for release on 29 September 2026, though publication dates vary by market and edition.
The accounts of Stallone's childhood and relationship with his father are based on his recollections in his interview.
