Actor Sylvester Stallone admits to using muscle-building drugs.
Sep 28, 2026
Hanoi [Vietnam], September 28: Action movie star Sylvester Stallone has surprisingly revealed that he used steroids to lose weight for his iconic role in 'Rocky III', The Wrap reported on September 26.
Action movie star Sylvester Stallone recently shared candidly about his dieting and fitness regimen during his peak years in the 1980s and 1990s. The legendary actor admitted to "torturing" himself to extremes to maintain his muscular physique on screen.
This obsession with his physique was so severe that it led him down the path of using steroids and developing an eating disorder while trying to reduce his body fat to a record 2.6% for the 1982 film Rocky III .
Speaking on The New York Times ' podcast , The Interview , Stallone revealed that he used to be heavily obsessed with his physique. "It became a really bad addiction. I had binge eating disorders; my stomach couldn't hold anything because of the pressure to maintain my physique. It was a kind of crazy body worship," the actor shared.
The movie star asserted that no one could maintain that physique for months on end just by eating yogurt or pudding without the help of medication and supplements. When asked directly if he used steroids while filming Rocky III , Stallone unhesitatingly replied, "Oh my God, absolutely."
The high price of a muscular physique.
According to Stallone, using muscle-building supplements requires a strict cycle: 6 weeks of training and using the drugs, followed by 6 weeks of rest. He acknowledges that the public is right in believing that such a massive physique cannot be developed entirely naturally. However, the health consequences are devastating.
"I've ruined my body. Proof is that I've had to undergo nine back surgeries, two shoulder surgeries, and three surgeries to fix my cervical vertebrae. Everything on my body now has to be held together with steel wires," the 80-year-old star lamented. He admitted that if he could choose again, he would leave the dangerous stunts to stunt doubles rather than endure such persistent injuries himself.
Source: Thanh Nein Newspaper