Sylvester Stallone has opened up about a traumatic experience during his teenage years, recalling a period at a Pennsylvania school for troubled adolescents that he says included a stay in a psychiatric facility and a violent attack by another resident.
Stallone, now 80, discussed the experience while promoting his memoir, The Steps, which is scheduled for release on Sept. 29. The book revisits his difficult childhood, adolescence and the years he spent struggling to establish himself as an actor before becoming one of Hollywood’s biggest stars.
The actor said he was sent to Devereux Manor High School in Berwyn, Pennsylvania, after being expelled from numerous schools during his youth. He recalled that teenagers who broke rules could be punished by being sent to an area he remembered as Park Lodge, which he said was also known as the “Snake Pit.”
Stallone described the facility as a deeply disturbing environment. He recalled seeing people in severe distress and said the experience was intended to frighten teenagers into following the rules. He said he spent several weeks there as a teenager.
He also recalled an alleged attack by another resident during his stay. Stallone said the other teenager assaulted him in a bathroom and that two guards eventually intervened. His account describes the incident as one of the most frightening experiences of his adolescence.
The actor said the experience affected the way he viewed himself. Rather than seeing the episode only as punishment, he recalled emerging from it with a determination that he would not allow other people to break his will.
Stallone connected that mindset to his later years in New York, when he was struggling financially and trying to establish himself as an actor and screenwriter. He said the experience contributed to a belief that he could withstand rejection and hardship while continuing to pursue his ambitions.
His account comes with an important qualification: the descriptions of conditions at the facility and the alleged assault are Stallone’s recollections of events from decades ago. A representative for Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health said the organisation respected his right to tell his story and expressed regret for any trauma he remembers experiencing, without directly addressing the allegations.
The memoir also explores other difficult parts of Stallone’s upbringing, including his relationship with his parents and the physical and emotional challenges he experienced while growing up.
Those experiences provide additional context for the image Stallone later developed through characters such as Rocky Balboa and John Rambo. Both characters became associated with endurance and persistence, themes that Stallone has frequently connected to his own struggles before achieving fame.
His breakthrough came with Rocky in 1976, a film he wrote and starred in as struggling Philadelphia boxer Rocky Balboa. The movie became a major success, won three Academy Awards including Best Picture and eventually developed into a long-running franchise.
The Rocky story is receiving renewed attention this year as the original film marks its 50th anniversary. Stallone’s early struggle to get the screenplay made has also been dramatized in the new film I Play Rocky, which focuses on the making of the original movie.
Stallone has since become one of Hollywood’s most recognizable action stars, creating or starring in major franchises including Rocky, Rambo and The Expendables. He has also continued acting in television, including his role as Dwight Manfredi in Tulsa King.
But The Steps looks further back than the fame and blockbuster films, examining the difficult years that preceded his breakthrough.
For Stallone, the memories of his teenage years remain part of the personal story behind the determination he later brought to his career. His latest revelations offer a much more complicated picture of the experiences that shaped the man who would eventually become Rocky and Rambo.
