Tragic Details About Sylvester Stallone

Hollywood heavyweight Sylvester Stallone often plays characters who find themselves in a rough spot and are forced to roll with the punches, both figuratively and literally. He portrayed the working-class immigrant struggle as Rocky Balboa in the "Rocky" franchise, he illustrated the horrors of PTSD as John Rambo in "First Blood," and the five "Rambo" films that followed. Although he might not be a boxer or war veteran, in reality, his life has certainly been rife with hardship. 

Stallone had a difficult childhood. He grew up with abusive parents, struggled in school, and spent some time in foster care. It took him a while to break into the film industry — and even after becoming a household name, he's had to fight some tough battles and endure family tragedies.

Much like the heroes he's brought to life onscreen, Stallone is a fighter. Throughout his trials, he's been able to keep his chin up and continue building his legacy. Here, we recount some of the most notable struggles he's faced. 

Plenty of moviegoers can instantly recognize Sylvester Stallone by his distinctive voice and crooked smile. Not everyone knows that these characteristics are the result of a facial deformity due to complications during birth. According to the Netflix documentary "Sly," which features interviews from the icon himself in addition to his family members and friends, Stallone's mother Jackie Stallone continued to ride public transit even when she was 9 months pregnant with him. 

One fateful day — July 6, 1946, to be specific — she went into labor during a bus ride. "Somebody was smart enough to get her off the bus, they carried her into a charity ward," Sylvester Stallone said in the doc (via Fox News). "And that's where I was brought into the world via this accident, which kind of paralyzed all the nerves on the side of my mouth. So I was born with this snarl."

Indeed, Jackie's obstetricians had to deploy two pairs of forceps to extract baby Stallone. Improper use of these tools severed a nerve in the actor's face. Due to this medical mishap, parts of his lip, tongue, and chin were paralyzed — and have remained so ever since.

Growing up in Hell's Kitchen was truly hellish for Sylvester Stallone. While his parents fought constantly, sticking out a marriage that was less than idyllic, he bounced from foster home to foster home, never staying in one place for too long.

Stallone was reunited with his parents at the age of 5 — but life didn't get much better for him then. Although his snarl is now celebrated as one of his signature traits, it wasn't always appreciated — at school, he was an outcast due to his facial deformity. He struggled with behavioral issues and got into constant fights, leading to frequent suspensions. He didn't have the easiest time with schoolwork, either — he often got in trouble because of poor grades. According to an interview on his daughters Sophia and Sistine Stallone's podcast "Unwaxed," he was kicked out of a total of 13 schools — "[It would have been] 14, but they ran out of schools," he joked. Stallone disclosed that he was even banned by the school boards of Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Eventually, the Stallone family moved to Washington, D.C. When Stallone was 11, his parents divorced, adding to his woes. When high school rolled around, he was shipped off to a special institution for troubled students. There, he was voted "most likely to end up in the electric chair." Yet Sylvester Stallone never viewed himself as incorrigible. "I never saw myself as anything other than misunderstood," he said.

On "Unwaxed," hosted by his daughters Sophia and Sistine Stallone, Sylvester Stallone opened up about his upbringing: "I wasn't raised in the right way. My brain has always been flipped sideways." Throughout his childhood, Stallone suffered abusive behavior from both his parents, Jackie and Frank Stallone, Sr. 

"I was raised by a very physical father," he said in "Sly" (via the Daily Mail). "I was no stranger to serious pain. I think it just became, 'I'm not gonna break.'" His brother Frank, Jr. chimed in: "Our mother was pretty bad, too. She was pretty handy with the old hairbrush and the shower brush, and she had these long nails that would never break."

Stallone recounted one incident vividly illustrating his father's violent tendencies. One day while Stallone was playing polo, his father began screaming that he was riding the horse wrong. "And finally, I pulled the horse up to get ready for another throw, and he comes out of the stands, grabs me by the throat, throws me on the ground, takes the horse, and walks off the field. And I laid there and I went: 'I never wanna see a horse again in my whole life.'"

Even though his childhood was full of strife, Sylvester Stallone believes that the parental neglect he experienced gave him a desire for validation from an audience, which kept him motivated to push on.

One of Sylvester Stallone's earliest acting ventures was an erotic film called "Party and Kitty and Studs." He wasn't aiming for a porn career — he just needed a way to pay his bills.

"I was ... starving when I did it," he told Playboy in a 1978 interview. "I'd been bounced out of my apartment and had spent four nights in a row at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, trying to avoid the cops, trying to get some sleep, and keeping my pens and books in a 25-cent locker. I mean, I was desperate. That's why I thought it was extraordinary when I read in one of the trade papers that I could make $100 a day. And the fact that I had to take off my clothes to do it was no big deal. There wasn't any hard-core stuff in the movie, so what did I care?"

Stallone didn't just play a bit part in the film — he had one of the leading roles. "I played Studs, who posts a sign on the bulletin board inviting people to come to a party," he said. The ensuing party wasn't incredibly wild: "About 10 people show up and they do a lot of kissing and necking, and that's about it. By today's standards, the movie would almost qualify for a PG rating. It was much, much tamer than 'The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea' or 'Don't Look Now.'"

While filming "Rocky IV," Sylvester Stallone decided to try out a method acting approach. During a fight scene, he asked costar Dolph Lundgren, who played Drago, to punch him for real — and the results were not pleasant. "I told [Lundgren], 'Why don't we just do it? Just try to knock me out,'" he remembered at Cannes in 2019 (per Vulture). "Next thing I know, I'm on a low-altitude plane to the emergency room, and I'm in intensive care for four days."

Stallone shared a more in-depth account of the incident in a Q&A hosted by Ain't It Cool News, elaborating on the severity of his injuries. "Later that night, I couldn't breathe very well, and they took me to the emergency room," he said. "My blood pressure was 200+, and the next thing I knew I was on a flight from Canada to St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica, and there I resided in intensive care for eight days."

According to Stallone, Lundgren struck him in the chest hard enough to slam his against his breastbone, causing swelling and a labored heartbeat. Without medical attention, Stallone's heart would have soon stopped due to its swelling — a common cause of death for people in car accidents who experience the steering wheel hitting their chest on impact. "So in a sense, I was hit by a streetcar named Drago," Stallone joked. Thankfully, he recovered in time to shoot "Rocky V."

When Sylvester Stallone and ex-wife Sasha Czack welcomed their son Seargeoh Stallone into the world in 1979, they were stunned by his ability to draw and write letters at an early age. Yet they were concerned by the fact that he seemed to have trouble communicating. An assessment from a doctor revealed that Seargeoh had autism. Stallone and Czack were emotional when they heard the news, but they were committed to supporting their son in every way they could.

After receiving the diagnosis, Stallone and Czack set up a research fund via the National Society for Children and Adults with Autism. Czack told Stallone that she would focus on caring for Seargeoh while Stallone remained busy with his career. "Sasha does the hard, in-the-trenches warfare," Stallone told People in 1985. "I use my films to have premieres that raise money for the fund."

In his interview with People, Stallone spoke about the importance of engaging with Seargeoh at his level. "I have to become his playmate. With a child like this, you have to put away your ego. You can't force him into your world," he said. "I sort of go along with whatever he is doing... After he gets to the point where he trusts you, a little more communication can start." He took great pains to create a comforting environment at home for his son, even building Seargeoh a backyard playground environment where he could "relate to nature."

Seargeoh Stallone isn't Sylvester Stallone's only child with a health condition. His daughter Sophia Rose Stallone, born in 1996, had to undergo surgery for a congenital malformation of a heart valve twice — once at just two months old, and again in 2012 when she was 16. 

In advance of her second procedure, Sophia spoke to Paris Match Magazine about the effect her heart condition has had on her life. "Every day I think of my heart," she said (via Hello! Magazine). "I eat really healthy, and as I get more tired than normal, I have to be very careful when doing sports. Now I have to have surgery again because the tissue they put in 16 years ago has widened and I have problems with the valves."

In 2023, Sophia revisited the experience on an episode of "The Family Stallone," a reality show following the daily lives of Sylvester Stallone, his wife Jennifer Flavin, and their children. "The moment I found out I needed an operation was one of the most pivotal experiences of my entire life because I never had to consider death before," she said (via Access Hollywood). She opened up about the effect the health scare had on her family, namely her father: "Dad couldn't even talk to me without crying about it." Sophia seems to be doing well now, hosting a podcast with her sister Sistine Stallone, and her own book club on Instagram.

Life hasn't always been kind to Sylvester Stallone's five children. In 2012, his eldest son Sage Moonblood Stallone, who played his son in "Rocky V" and later founded a company dedicated to the preservation of B-movies from the 1970s and '80s, was found dead in his home in Los Angeles. Due to the suddenness of his death, unfounded rumors about drug use began swirling. 

Stallone's statement to CNN rebuffed rumors: "When a parent loses a child, there is no greater pain. Therefore, I am imploring people to respect my wonderfully talented son's memory ... Sage was our first child and the center of our universe, and I am humbly begging for all to have my son's memory and soul left in peace." An autopsy ultimately revealed that Sage Stallone died from a heart condition that caused a blockage of the arteries.

In "Sly," Stallone looked back on his bond with his eldest son Sage. Specifically, he reminisced on the filming of "Rocky V," which depicts Rocky Balboa as a distant father. When asked if his real-life family dynamics influenced the story, he said, "Unfortunately, yes" (via People). The filmmaking process only strengthened the connection between the father and son. In a 1996 interview, Sage told People that the shoot altered their relationship for the better: "After the film, everything changed. We'd do anything for each other."

In 2016, the Stallone family received quite the shock when Dante Stallone, Sylvester Stallone's half-brother, was brutally and randomly attacked while on his way back from a late-night Taco Bell run. Dante, the son of Stallone's father Frank Stallone, Sr., and his fourth wife, was 19 years old at the time.

Dante Stallone was just off campus at Florida State University when he was beaten by two men. The attack resulted in some serious injuries, including a shattered jaw, a split palate, and knocked-out teeth. Stallone provided a statement to TMZ following the incident: "This is a wonderful young man, a straight-A student who would not cause any trouble. It's just so tragic and terribly sad." 

His brother Frank Stallone, Jr. addressed the incident on X, formerly known as Twitter, revealing that Dante would need reconstructive surgery: "For [those] of you that asked my brother goes into surgery tonight hoping for good results. Thanks for your thoughts and kind words."

It seems that Dante has recovered from the assault — and is now healthier than ever. In August 2023, Frank Stallone, Jr. posted a photo of Dante to Instagram, celebrating his weight-lifting ability. According to Frank's caption, Dante is "benching 365 pounds." Frank added, "He's going to get shredded." 

An ongoing source of anguish for Sylvester Stallone has been not owning the rights to the "Rocky" franchise. Stallone came up with the concept for "Rocky" in 1976, penned the 90-page-script over the course of just three days, and starred as the titular character.

In 2019, Stallone opened up to Variety about the frustrating situation. "I have zero ownership of 'Rocky,'" he said. "It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, 'Hey, you got paid, so what are you complaining about?'"

In 2022, Stallone voiced his anger about the rights once again — this time by taking to Instagram to critique producer Irwin Winkler. "After Irwin controlling 'Rocky' for over 47 years, and now 'Creed,' I really would like to have at least a little [of] WHAT'S LEFT of my rights back, before passing it on to ONLY YOUR CHILDREN — I believe that would be a fair gesture from this 93-year-old gentleman? ... This is a painful subject that eats at my soul, because I wanted to leave something of Rocky for my children," he wrote (via Variety). 

In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter, Stallone explained what triggered his Instagram outburst: "They wanted another 'Rocky.' And I was willing to do it. But I said, 'After 45 years, can we change the playing field a little bit? Level it out?" In the end, he asserted, the answer was "no."