October 2, 2026, 8:16 am | Read time: 4 minutes
Sylvester Stallone is still considered the epitome of physical toughness. However, the transformations for his most famous roles apparently came at a cost. In an interview with The New York Times, the now 80-year-old talks in detail for the first time about panic attacks, an eating disorder, steroid use, and the long-term effects on his health. Today, Stallone says, “I abused my body.”
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Stallone’s First Panic Attack Came at Age 36
Not only did numerous injuries on film sets or the physical demands of his action roles take a toll on Sylvester Stallone. The Hollywood star also battled anxiety for decades. In the interview with The New York Times, Stallone reports that his first severe attack hit him at the age of 36. It happened while watching the raw footage of a day’s shoot. Suddenly, terrible thoughts were there: “I’m dying, that’s it, I’m done.” He further reports, “And boom—I went down. I went to my knees, crawled, curled up, and there I lay in that dark movie theater.”
He experienced similar episodes repeatedly later on. To this day, large crowds are particularly stressful for him. As rooms fill up, he sometimes feels the anxiety rising within him, and he has to leave the situation. Even today, at 80, he occasionally has to withdraw due to sudden panic.
Steroid Use
Stallone reports that during the “Rocky” era, he maintained his low body fat percentage for months at a time. “No one does that without supplements and drugs,” he says in retrospect. When the New York Times journalist directly asked Stallone about possible steroid use, he said, “Oh God, you just have to do it. But you proceed with caution—six weeks on, six weeks off.”
It was only when Stallone had to play what he called “the weakest guy in the room—partially deaf, overweight” in “Cop Land” that he felt “somewhat liberated.” The decades-long extreme body cult took its toll. He later had to undergo numerous surgeries. “I exploited my body,” he reports.
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For “Rocky 3,” Stallone Developed an Eating Disorder
In the 1980s, Stallone’s pursuit of perfect fitness took on increasingly unhealthy proportions. For each new “Rocky” film, he wanted to look even more defined. He aimed for an athletic, wiry, and simultaneously aggressive-looking body. “Then it became an obsession,” Stallone says in retrospect. Particularly during the filming of the third “Rocky” installment, this ambition brought him to a critical point. He became bulimic at the time and was practically obsessed with maintaining his extreme fitness level. To achieve this, the actor reduced his body fat percentage to just 2.6 percent. He could hardly keep any food down or even wanted to because he was compulsively focused on looking as defined as possible. It was “literally a kind of compulsive body cult,” Stallone recounts.
Bulimia?
Stallone says he became bulimic. This means that the actor, by his own account, suffered from a severe eating disorder at times. People with bulimia repeatedly experience binge eating episodes and often try to get rid of the consumed calories, such as through self-induced vomiting. Bulimia should be treated professionally.
Compulsively Needing to Be Strong
Stallone’s repeated physical torment wasn’t limited to extreme diets and performance enhancers. On film sets, he also went without stunt doubles for decades, accepting severe injuries. When asked if his constant drive for self-harm was masochistic, Stallone answers bluntly: “Very masochistic.” He sees it as a desperate compulsion to prove his resilience, especially to his violent father. “It all goes back to my father […]: No, you won’t break me,” he says.
Also interesting: Transformation! The Rock lost 50 pounds
In the meantime, Stallone seems to have found peace. Although the decades-long physical exploitation left enormous marks, and the 80-year-old relies on daily medication after nine back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, and three neck fusions, he now looks back on life with reconciliation. Stallone optimistically emphasizes, “You’re never too old to be in love, never too old to dance with the great memories.”