Sylvester Stallone Opens Up About Steroid Use: Got Down to 2.6% Body Fat for ‘Rocky III’
Sylvester Stallone has opened up about the extreme measures he took to build his iconic physique, including steroid use and a battle with bulimia during the height of his Rocky career.
The 80-year-old Hollywood legend has been making the rounds while promoting his new memoir, The Steps, which was released on Sept. 29. During a recent interview with The New York Times, Stallone revealed that his obsession with maintaining an extremely lean physique eventually led to bulimia while preparing for Rocky III. He said he reached just 2.6 percent body fat during that period.
Stallone revisited those revelations during a conversation with Tracy Smith for CBS Sunday Morning. CBS recently profiled Stallone about his life, career, and the creation of Rocky as part of the promotional run for his memoir.
Sylvester Stallone Gets Candid About Steroid Use
Stallone explained that his dramatic transformation for Rocky III was intentional. By the third installment of the franchise, he felt audiences already knew Rocky Balboa and wanted the character’s appearance to reflect his growing fame, vanity, and success.
That meant completely transforming his own body.
“I went from, like, 15% body fat to 2.6,” Stallone told Smith.
Stallone described his diet at the time as essentially tuna fish and massive amounts of coffee. When Smith brought up steroids, Stallone did not attempt to hide their role in achieving the look.
“Oh, sure,” Stallone said before addressing the idea that physiques like the ones seen on screen are built naturally.
“I know you think these guys are natural. But, no.”
Stallone argued that actors trying to portray superheroes or larger-than-life characters sometimes view their physiques as another part of the role. In his case, he compared temporarily building that enhanced body to putting on a costume.
“It’s six, eight weeks. You manifest that look, and then you shed it,” Stallone said.
He also acknowledged that coming off and watching the physique disappear could be difficult psychologically.
Stallone was even more direct during his recent New York Times interview, saying that achieving and maintaining the kind of extreme physique he sought involved “additives and drugs.” He described using steroids in cycles while acknowledging that the process ultimately took a significant toll on his body.
Stallone Says His Pursuit Of The Perfect Physique Became An Obsession
Steroid use was only part of what Stallone now describes as an unhealthy fixation on his appearance.
For Rocky III, Stallone wanted a dramatically leaner and more defined version of Rocky. He has now revealed that maintaining that condition became so important to him that he developed bulimia.
“It became an obsession. Really bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic,” Stallone previously told The New York Times.
During his CBS interview, Stallone explained that he wanted Rocky’s changing physique to serve the story. The champion had become protected, successful, and increasingly vain before Clubber Lang, played by Mr. T, shattered that sense of security.
To physically represent that version of Rocky, Stallone believed he needed a “total body metamorphosis.”
The transformation produced one of the most recognizable physiques of Stallone’s career, but decades later, he is much more candid about the price he paid to achieve it.
When Smith asked when he realized he could no longer continue using steroids, Stallone pointed to a major health scare.
“Probably when I had a heart valve replacement,” Stallone said, calling it his “wake-up call.”
Stallone’s comments provide a rare look behind one of Hollywood’s most famous action physiques. The actor became synonymous with a muscular, shredded appearance through the Rocky and Rambo franchises, but he now acknowledges that what audiences saw on screen came through methods that were far more extreme than simply training hard and eating clean.
Image embed via Instagram @officialslystallone
