Sylvester Stallone says he became bulimic making Rocky III and used steroids for action physique

Sylvester Stallone has said he became bulimic while filming Rocky III, dropping to 2.6 per cent body fat in pursuit of the film's cut, shirtless look.

He made the disclosure in an interview with The New York Times, published as 'Sylvester Stallone on the Toll of Steroids and His Eating Disorder' on Sept. 25, according to reports summarised by The Hollywood Reporter. He was 80 at the time. The conversation was tied to promotion of his memoir, The Steps.

Stallone said the third Rocky film, released in 1982, marked a personal low. He struggled to keep food down during the shoot, a detail also noted by Parade. The memoir is set for release on Sept. 29.

In the same interview he confirmed he took steroids to build and hold his action-hero physique through the Rocky and Rambo years. He described the pattern as six weeks on, six weeks off. Steroids are synthetic drugs that mimic the male hormone testosterone and can rapidly increase muscle size.

He linked that long training programme to lasting damage. He said he has had nine back operations, two shoulder operations and three neck fusions. He did not tie any single operation to a specific film or injury.

Stallone said he felt liberated playing an overweight, partially deaf character in Cop Land, released in 1997. The role asked him to gain weight and step away from the strict dieting and muscle definition that had defined his 1980s parts.

The interview is not the first time his use of performance-enhancing drugs has drawn public attention. In March 2007 he was formally charged in an Australian court with importing 48 vials of banned human growth hormone, as reported by Reuters. He later pleaded guilty and apologised for illegally importing the vials into Australia, Reuters reported in May 2007.

What makes this stand out is the bluntness. Stallone built a career on physical endurance on screen. Here he describes the cost in plain terms: disordered eating, drugs to stay big, and repeated surgery in the decades since.