Stallone says heart surgery ended decades of steroids and extreme training
Sylvester Stallone says decades of steroid use and punishing workouts caught up with him until heart surgery forced a rethink. He described that wake-up call during a 50-minute conversation with journalist Tracy Smith at New York's 92nd Street Y on 29 September, held as part of the press tour for his memoir The Steps, as reported by Variety. The discussion ranged across his early career struggles, the legacy of Rocky and the physical toll of action roles.
Stallone said his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, urged him to get checked out. Doctors then replaced a heart valve. He said that examination "absolutely" saved his life.
He was blunt about how far he once went. For Rocky III, he said he undertook a total body metamorphosis to show Rocky Balboa sliding into narcissism and vanity before facing Clubber Lang. That meant falling from what he described as around 50% body fat to 2.6%, on a diet of tuna fish, about 30 cups of coffee a day and steroids.
The audience gasped. Stallone quipped back: "you really think these guys are natural?" He was pointing beyond himself, to the sculpted bodies now expected of Hollywood action leads.
Stallone said playing a superhero, or anyone above and beyond a normal guy, demands an enhanced physique. He called it "almost like putting on part of a costume." That look is built up, held for six to eight weeks, then shed.
What makes this stand out is the candour. Stallone has built a career on physical transformation, and here he laid out the method and the cost in the same breath.
The New York date was billed as Sylvester Stallone in Conversation with Tracy Smith: The Steps, with Smith identified by 92NY as with CBS Sunday Morning. His book The Steps is described by HarperCollins as a memoir about an unlikely path to stardom, and the Rocky origin story sits at its centre 50 years after the film's release.
The live interview was the first instalment of "CBS Sunday Morning at 92NY," a series organised around figures from arts, politics and culture. The full conversation is due to stream on CBSSundayMorning.com, YouTube and Paramount+ later this week.
