Is there a greater underdog story than that of Rocky Balboa?
Well, it turns out art only sort of imitates life, because the creator and star of the
storied Rocky franchise had an arguably way rougher origin story than his titular character.
This is Sylvester Stallone's tragic real-life story.
Tough childhood
Sylvester Stallone's curled lip and vocal delivery aren't a tough guy act, they're actually
the result of a traumatic childbirth.
According to the Chicago Tribune, an accident during Stallone's delivery resulted in a severed
facial nerve, paralyzing part of his tongue and chin.
In addition to Sylvester Stallone's traumatic birth, the actor suffered a slew of medical
problems throughout his early life.
He got rickets as a young child and was heavily bullied.
He claimed his father was physically abusive.
As a result, he'd act out in dangerous ways.
By the time Stallone was 12 years old, he'd been kicked out of 13 schools and broken 11
bones.
When he was 15, Stallone says that he was told his brain was "dormant," so he started
bodybuilding.
Six years before Rocky, Sylvester Stallone was sleeping at the Port Authority and struggling
with acting work and menial jobs.
Translation: He was broke.
As such, he told Playboy that in 1970, he starred in a softcore film called Party at
Kitty and Stud's, although he says that by today's standards it would likely get a PG
rating.
He said:
"It was either do that movie or rob someone because I was at the end, at the very end,
of my rope.
Instead of doing something desperate, I worked two days for $200 and got myself out of the
bus station."
Ultimately, the flick was never released, according to Stallone.
However, after the success of Rocky, Stallone was offered the opportunity to buy the rights
to it for $100,000, presumably to prevent its release.
But Stallone recalled,
"I wouldn't buy it for two bucks, and my lawyer told them to hit the pike."
While filming Rocky IV, Dolph Lundgren almost knocked Sylvester Stallone out for good.
Stallone recalled to press at the Cannes Film Festival that the Swedish karate master-turned-action
star was almost too perfect, causing Stallone to loathe him at first sight.
That worked really well for the movie, since these two guys were supposed to hate each
other.
But it didn't create a lot of harmony on the set, to the point that Stallone finally told
Lundgren to just hit him for real and try to knock him out.
"'I sorta know what you're gonna do, but really cut loose as hard as you can.'
That was a really stupid thing to say."
According to Stallone, Lundgren took his words to heart, he really went for it, and the resulting
punch almost stopped Sly's heart and sent him straight to the hospital.
"Next thing I know, I'm on a low-altitude plane to the emergency room, I'm serious!
And I'm in intensive care for four days."
Stallone detailed the incident to People in 1985: He was airlifted to St. John's Hospital
in Los Angeles, where he was diagnosed with a bruised heart, but his issues started earlier:
He said months before Lundgren's big blow, he "felt something snap" while filming a training
scene in Wyoming.
He would later say he felt like he got hit by, quote, "a streetcar named Drago."
"I must break you."
On the bright side, Lundgren and Stallone remain close despite the near-manslaughter.
Lundgren told The New York Post,
"I was actually pretty surprised at how well Sly could fight.
I fought for real and had to learn how to fake it!
He was really committed."
It just goes to prove that you don't mess with chemical engineers.
"Because I'm just too powerful."
of Sylvester Stallone's son, Seargeoh.
But when the toddler was diagnosed with the disorder, it was incredibly difficult on the
actor and his then-wife, Sasha.
The estranged couple told People in 1985 that they dealt separately with their son's struggles,
with Sasha shouldering most of the responsibilities for the boy while Stallone worked.
Stallone was heartbroken at what he felt was an inability to connect with Seargeoh, explaining:
"There is no real father-and-son thing there.
I have to become his playmate.
With a child like this you have to put away your ego.
You can't force him into your world.
I sort of go along with whatever he is doing."
The actor said that he doted extra on elder son Sage, in part because he wasn't able to
bond as well with Seargeoh.
Sylvester Stallone's eldest son, Sage, with whom he was rather close, died at just 36
years old in July 2012.
Sage reportedly passed away from a heart condition called atherosclerosis, in which cholesterol
and fats block arteries, and restricts blood flow.
The cardiovascular disease caused Sage to suffer a heart attack, which ultimately ended
his life, CNN reported.
Even more heartbreaking, in addition to suffering the death of his son, Sylvester also had to
cope with media speculation that Sage was on drugs at the time of his passing, allegations
that turned out to be unfounded.
Sage had a promising future and even appeared in a few of his dad's films, including Rocky
V and Daylight, and was engaged to be married at the time of his sudden death.
Sylvester said in a heart wrenching statement:
"[W]hen a parent loses a child there is no greater pain.
Therefore I am imploring people to respect my wonderfully talented son's memory and feel
compassion for his loving mother, Sasha, because this agonizing loss will be felt for the rest
of our lives.
Sage was our first child and the center of our universe and I am humbly begging for all
to have my son's memory and soul left in peace."
Sylvester Stallone had a contentious relationship with his half-sister Toni Filiti for decades.
Page Six reported that, quote, "at the height of [Stallone]'s fame," the actor, producer,
and screenwriter "reached a confidential multi-million dollar settlement" with his half-sister that
sources described as a "shakedown."
In 1987, Stallone reportedly agreed to give Filiti just over $16,600 monthly for the duration
of her life, plus a lump payment of $2 million and "a trust of $50,000 per year for medical
and psychiatric expenses."
She accused Stallone of, quote, "personal injury, including physical injury," which
he denied.
Stallone's mother, Jackie, told the tab,
"This was nothing more than a shakedown.
Toni-Ann was on 65 Oxycontin pills a day, and she threatened Sylvester.
A drug addict will do anything.
When Sylvester became famous, she didn't have to hook.
He was trying to help her.
He caved in."
She added,
"There were too many conflicting stories…At the time he was very hot, and his lawyers
said, 'Give her something just to shut her up.'"
Toni passed away in August 2012 at just 48 years old after a battle with lung cancer,
Radar Online reported.
Her death came just a month after Stallone's son, Sage, passed away.
In October 2012, just months after the tragic deaths of his son and sister, Sylvester Stallone
learned that his daughter, Sophia Stallone, would have to undergo heart surgery that December.
Sophia underwent her first cardiac operation as an infant to correct a heart malformation.
The procedure was successful, but she required a heart valve procedure at 16.
It turned out well, but her father was understandably heartbroken.
Stallone's wife, Jennifer Flavin, said of Sophia,
"She is the one that most resembles her father.
Like him she has read nearly all of Shakespeare's books.
They have a very special bond, they think alike and even have the same gestures, Sophia
is the love of his life."
She added of her husband:
"This is a terrible year, a horrible year for him.
Sylvester is devastated, but he refuses to talk about his son."
Thankfully, all turned out well.
Sophia graduated from the University of Southern California in May 2019, where she studied
communications with a minor in entrepreneurship and film.
Tragic luck with pets
If Sylvester Stallone's Instagram is anything to go by, the guy is a massive dog lover.
But the family suffered another tragedy in 2013, when their beloved family dog was killed
by a coyote.
TMZ reported that the pooch, named Phoebe, went missing in the Stallones' Bel Air, California,
neighborhood.
The family was so desperate to get her back that they hung up posters and even offered
a $10,000 reward for her return...only for her to turn up dead on their own property.
Stallone's rep said Phoebe's death was "very difficult" for the brood.
Phoebe's untimely passing wasn't the only heartache Stallone suffered with a pet.
Before hitting it big with Rocky, a cash-strapped Stallone tried to sell his beloved bull mastiff,
Butkus, for $100.
"And tried to sell my dog, because it was either do that or he was just not going to
be very well fed around the house."
As if that's not tragic enough, he could only get $50 for his four-legged best friend.
Stallone told ShortList that when he sold the script for his boxing blockbuster, he
asked to buy Butkus back from the man who purchased the dog, a person named Jimmy, who
refused.
Stallone came out victorious...after he paid Jimmy $3,000 and gave him a bit part in the
film.
That may seem like a lot, but it must have been a small price to pay to be reunited with
his four-legged friend.
In 2016, Sylvester Stallone nearly lost his then-19-year-old half-brother in a vicious
attack.
According to TMZ, Dante Stallone was near campus at Florida State University when two
other men brutally beat him.
Dante, who was on his way back from a late night Taco Bell run at the time of the attack,
was injured so badly that Page Six reported his roommates had to call 911 for him because
he had "difficulty speaking."
A police report obtained by the outlet also didn't indicate a clear motive, and stated
that Dante didn't know his assailants.
Dante reportedly suffered "a split palate," "shattered jaw," and extensive dental damage,
including "broken and knocked out teeth," per TMZ.
He had to be hospitalized for several weeks, and underwent reconstructive surgery.
Sylvester told the tab:
"This is a wonderful young man, a straight-A student who would not cause any trouble.
It's just so tragic and terribly sad."
Sylvester Stallone made a ton of money from the Rocky franchise, but still may have gotten
a raw deal, especially considering that he created the whole thing.
Stallone told Variety that he raked in about $2.5 million for Rocky in 1976.
When you break down the numbers, he got $25,000 for the screenplay, then $360 per week of
filming for the 25-day shoot.
He explained to the magazine:
"Luckily there were the WGA minimums.
I made about $2,000 for acting."
Most of Stallone's pay for his breakout hit came from his 10 "net points," or his shares
on the net profits.
He made $75,000 for Rocky II in 1979 and $120,000 plus millions in net points for Rocky III
just a few years later in 1982.
However, Stallone says he could have made a lot more, and he's spent years harboring
some resentment over not having any rights in the franchise.
He claimed:
"I have zero ownership of Rocky.
Every word, every syllable, every grammatical error was all my fault.
It was shocking that it never came to be, but I was told, 'Hey, you got paid, so what
are you complaining about?'
I was furious."
When asked why he didn't pursue the franchise rights more tenaciously, Stallone told Variety
that even his own attorney suggested the fight wasn't worth it, no doubt tough words to hear
for the man who poured so much of himself into the Rocky story.
He explained:
"I never really pushed it, and by the time we got around to Rocky Balboa I was in a pretty
weak position to say anything.
I was in a slump, and it was pretty intense."
A Rocky producer insisted to Variety that the star, quote, "made money from every angle,
and still does."
Stallone even confessed that while the system has made sure that his kids and grandkids
are well taken care of, he still feels like, quote, "the definition of Hollywood is someone
who stabs you in the chest.
They don't even hide it."
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