Stallone Recalls Childhood Abuse While Promoting Memoir

Sylvester Stallone says he left some of the most painful parts of his childhood out of his forthcoming memoir because he did not want readers to pity him, describing a home life marked, in his recollection, by physical abuse and little affection. He discussed those experiences in an interview while promoting The Steps: A Memoir, scheduled for release September 29, 2026. Stallone, 80, recalled that after his parents separated, he spent time living with his father in Maryland. He described his father as volatile and physically abusive. In one memory, Stallone said his father sent him to buy bread before church. After he returned with nut bread, having encountered friends, his father kicked and hit him, leaving him in the street before driving to church. The account comes from Stallone’s recollections in the interview; the reports provide no independent corroboration of the childhood incidents. He said the experience stayed with him and that he confronted his father years later, when Stallone was in his 40s. Stallone recalled telling him he wished they could be the same age for three minutes, explaining that he wanted his father to understand what it felt like to be hit.