Originally published in CBN
Hollywood icon Sylvester Stallone recently revealed in a heartbreaking discussion with his daughters that he came into the world unwanted, explaining that his mother told him repeatedly that she had tried to abort him.
The 78-year-old actor and director opened up about his rough childhood during an interview with his daughters Sophia and Sistine on their Unwaxed Podcast.
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“I grew up in a really bad household, it was tough,” he told them.
The girls were interviewing their father about the new release of his Netflix documentary SLY when he opened up about some details of his life that weren’t even shared in the film. He said he hadn’t shared them because he thought people would question his motives.
“My mother would say, ‘The only reason you’re here is because the hanger didn’t work,’ or ‘Bouncing down those steps didn’t cause you to get lost,'” he recalled, pointing out some common abortion methods at that time in history.
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He said she even told him she would have let him die as a baby if she had seen any problems with his cognitive abilities.
“And she said that: ‘You know, truthfully, Sylvester … you know, if there was really something wrong with your brain, I would have definitely opened up the window and put you on the windowsill and let you freeze because I’d be doing you a favour.'”
When his daughters expressed shock at the terrible things his mother said to him, he tried to give her some grace by explaining that she had grown up in a horrifically abusive situation.
“My mother was — she was a, she was a troubled person. She was put into an orphanage, you know, and a very cruel orphanage because her father had remarried and the new stepmother hated her,” he explained. “And I think my mother was also kind of rebellious. So she was put into an orphanage that — it’s unlike the ones they have today. It was, you know, you’re tied to the bed, you’re whipped, and you’re, she was terribly molested. And I think her ability to ever show love was short-circuited. She literally couldn’t stand to be touched or touch at all. I mean, not even a hug.”
He also explained that he spent the first four to five years of life in a transient boarding house, feeling disconnected and unloved.
Content warning: the video below contains cursing
The now-famous writer, director, and actor eventually overcame that harsh upbringing, looking to Jesus as an example of an overcomer.
He says some elements of his Academy Award-winning film Rocky were autobiographical, coming out of his own painful struggles and frustrations, but he also points to the hand of God. In an interview with CBN Founder Pat Robertson nearly two decades ago, Stallone credited God with giving him the burst of creativity that led him to write the Rocky script in just three days.
“The character of Rocky was built on the idea that he was chosen to do something. That’s why the first image in Rocky is the picture of Christ,” he said, pointing out that his goal with the first Rocky movie was to tell a story of God’s redemption.
“This is a story of faith, integrity, and victory. Jesus is the inspiration for anyone to go the distance,” Stallone said.
He also told CBN that after gaining success and fame in Hollywood, his ego, deep soul wounds, and worldly temptations took over in his life and he went spiraling out of control. But God would always bring him back around and give him another chance.
“I really decided to take things out of my own hands and put it in God’s hands because I always felt I was chosen to do something,” he said.
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