Enter the AARP Movies for Grownups® Sweepstakes for a chance to win a trip to Los Angeles!

Content starts here

Sylvester Stallone, 80, Says Body Obsession Led to Bulimia and Steroid Use

The actor says he reached 2.6 percent body fat as his fixation on his physique became ‘obsessive’

3-minute read

Donna Freydkin,

AARP

Published September 28, 2026

Sylvester Stallone says his pursuit of an extreme physique for “Rocky III” led to bulimia and steroid use. The actor, 80, is seen here in New York City on Sept. 16, 2025.

Santiago Felipe/WireImage/Getty Images

Key takeaways

Sylvester Stallone says the extreme physical demands he placed on his body to maintain his Rocky physique came at a “terrible price.”
While making Rocky III, Stallone says his fixation on his physique led to bulimia, extremely low body fat and steroid use.
He says years of training and stunts have been followed by nine back operations, two shoulder surgeries and three neck fusions.

Sylvester Stallone, 80, says his pursuit of the extreme physique he displayed in Rocky III led to bulimia, 2.6 percent body fat and steroid use. In a New York Times interview ahead of the publication of his memoir, The Steps, Stallone describes his body as an extension of the tough-guy image he built during his rise to fame.

That idea of toughness began long before Rocky. Stallone recounted a childhood marked by neglect and violence in a 2025 interview with AARP. After his parents divorced, he lived with his father, whom Stallone described as physically abusive.

More Ways to Benefit

View All

Related Benefit 1
Related Benefit 2
Related Benefit 3
Related Benefit 4
Related Benefit 5

Asked how that upbringing shaped him, Stallone told the Times that it fueled a fierce competitiveness.

“I was so consumed with not being another bum from the neighborhood. I was very, very competitive, like a pit bull. That’s what got me going. It’s not healthy,” he said.

That drive followed him into Hollywood and led to Rocky, the 1976 film Stallone wrote and starred in after years of struggling to break into the business. The movie won the Oscar for best picture and earned Stallone nominations for both acting and screenplay.

As his career took off, that drive increasingly centered on his body, which became another means of projecting toughness.

“It was my armor,” he said.

By 1982’s Rocky III, that pursuit had become an obsession. Stallone says in the interview that he developed an eating disorder.

“It got to the point where I became bulimic,” he said. “I got down to 2.6 percent body fat when I was doing Rocky III, and I couldn’t hold anything down. Or I didn’t want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness, literally an obsessive body-worship kind of thing. And nobody does it without additives and drugs, period.”

Bulimia is an eating disorder; people with bulimia eat large amounts of food and feel unable to stop, then try to prevent weight gain by making themselves vomit, misusing laxatives, fasting or exercising too much, according to the Mayo Clinic.

Eating disorders in older adults

Stallone’s disclosure is a reminder that eating disorders can affect people at any age. Learn why experts are seeing more adults 45 and older seeking treatment and what warning signs to watch for.

Editor’s note: This story contains references to eating disorders. If you or someone you know needs help, visit the National Eating Disorders Association website or text “HOME” to 741741.

When asked whether he had used steroids, Stallone answered, “Oh, my god, you have to. But you do it in a sensitive way — six weeks on, six weeks off. People go, ‘Oh, you don’t get that way naturally.’ No, you don’t. But that also took a terrible toll.”

Stallone now details the physical consequences in stark terms, saying he has undergone nine back operations, two shoulder surgeries and three neck fusions.

He described himself as “sort of fit, but I take a lot of pills to keep going. It’s come at a terrible price.”

He says his priority now is the people who still need him. Stallone has five children. He and his first wife, Sasha Czack, had sons Sage, who died in 2012 at 36, and Seargeoh. With wife Jennifer Flavin, Stallone has daughters Sophia, 30, Sistine, 28, and Scarlet, 24.

“I’m making up for it as much as I can,” Stallone said, “because you’re never too old to be in love.”

The key takeaways were created with the assistance of generative AI. An AARP editor reviewed and refined the content for accuracy and clarity.

Donna Freydkin has spent 10-plus years interviewing celebrities for major publications, and has written for a variety of outlets such as USA Today, Allure, Yahoo! and CNN covering topics such as films, family and favorite meals.