Sylvester Stallone reveals at 80 what lay behind his famous physique in "Rocky III": "It was an obsession"

Sylvester Stallone turned his physique into an inseparable part of characters like Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. The muscles and demanding workouts ended up becoming part of an image that defined a good part of his career in Hollywood.

But behind that body there was a much more extreme reality. At 80, Stallone has revealed that this quest to stay increasingly defined ended up turning into an obsession that reached one of its most extreme points during the filming of Rocky III .

Stallone admits he became bulimic

The actor explained in an interview with The New York Times that he initially began to see his body as a kind of "armor". While the first Rocky had the appearance of a relatively normal man, as the films went on he wanted to increasingly transform his appearance.

Stallone was looking for a different physique from Arnold Schwarzenegger's. He didn't want to simply be bigger, but to resemble "a jaguar, a cat": a fierce, flexible, and athletic body . However, that pursuit ended up crossing a line.

'" Then it became an obsession . Very serious," he admitted. And right afterward he made a confession that, he said, he had never shared publicly: " It got to the point where I became bulimic ".'

One of the most extreme moments came with Rocky III , released in 1982. Stallone said that during that period he reached approximately 2.6% body fat .

The actor explained that he reached a point where he did not want to keep food inside his body because he was obsessed with preserving that definition. He himself described that stage as a kind of "obsessive body cult."

Stallone also admits that he used steroids

The demands didn’t end with training and diet. Stallone also admitted that he resorted to steroids to achieve and maintain that physique.

'When the interviewer asked him directly if he was saying that he took steroids, his response was forceful: "Oh my God, you have to do it". '

Stallone explained that he used them in six-week cycles and then rested for another six. According to his account, maintaining that level of physical condition for months was not something that could be achieved simply with diet and training.

"No one does it without additives and drugs, period", he stated. And he was even more direct when talking about the possibility of achieving that body without those substances: "You don't get to look like that naturally".

"Cop Land," the movie that changed his relationship with his body

The obsession began to lose strength years later. Stallone pointed to Cop Land , a film released in 1997, as a turning point in his relationship with his image.

To portray Sheriff Freddy Heflin , he had to move away precisely from the physique he had built over the years. His character was overweight, partially deaf, and, in Stallone’s own words, was meant to be "the weakest guy in the room".

That was liberating. For the first time, he didn’t have to maintain on camera the physical appearance that had become one of his hallmarks.

Decades later, Stallone sums up that stage of his life with one phrase: "I have abused my body".

'Nine back operations and "a terrible price"'

The actor also detailed the enormous physical wear and tear accumulated over the course of his career. He said he has undergone nine back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, and three cervical fusions.

He even joked that practically his whole body is held together with wire. Even so, he continues trying to stay in shape, although his relationship with that concept of the body as "armor" has changed completely.

Stallone also acknowledged that he needs numerous medications to keep going. Reflecting on the consequences of decades of pushing his physique to the limit, he summed up his situation bluntly: "It has come at a terrible price".

And if he could go back to the beginning of his career, there is one thing he would do differently. Stallone says he would leave the dangerous scenes in the hands of the specialists and would not insist on personally performing his own stunts.