Sylvester Stallone Says He'll 'Never Come to Terms' With His Parents Skipping the Oscars the Night He Won for “Rocky”
- - Sylvester Stallone Says He'll 'Never Come to Terms' With His Parents Skipping the Oscars the Night He Won for “Rocky”
Angela AndaloroDecember 20, 2025 at 3:34 AM
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Sylvester Stallone in "Rocky" -
Sylvester Stallone was not yet 30 years old when he chased his own dreams, writing and starring in Rocky
The film went on to become the highest-grossing movie of 1976 and won the actor three Academy Awards
Stallone reflects on struggling with his success in an interview with CBS Mornings
Sylvester Stallone is proud to have overcome the odds.
The actor, 79, was just an up-and-comer when he poured himself into Rocky, one of his most iconic roles which Gayle King pointed out studios weren't thrilled about at first, during his conversation with CBS Mornings.
Stallone acknowledged that studios were interested in the story, but not in him as a lead. When King pointed out how he needed the money at the time, he recalled of the studio's offers, "It started at 20, then it went to 80, then it went to 160, then it went to 360...”
That amount may not seem like much amid today's blockbusters, but it was the equivalent of a $2.5 million offer today. Still, he remembers, "I couldn't do it."
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The actor went on to win three Academy Awards for Rocky, which was ultimately the highest-grossing movie of 1976, a feat that came with complex emotions.
"It's a volcanic moment, and then it was very sad," he admitted. "You want people that you love that denied you, now you're here, you're at the Oscar, and they don't want to go...You realize that, at that moment, that you're never ever going to come to terms with this...”
Clarifying that he was referring to his parents, he continued, "It's a real learning lesson, Gayle, that parents should really wise up."
"Kids are the same as soft clay. They really are. You mold them, and you dent them, and you hurt them, or you drop them off the table, and they're not the same shape anymore. I still walk around with it. And I wish I couldn't. And I pray, and I do everything, but it's always there.”
Frank Stallone/ Instagram
Jackie Stallone, Frank Stallone, Sylvester Stallone, and Frank Stallone Sr.
In his 2023 Netflix documentary Sly, Stallone shared that he was born with his “snarl” because his mother went into labor while riding the bus, giving him partial facial paralysis.
“Even though she was nine months pregnant, she kept riding around on the bus,” he said in the film. “She [went] into labor. Somebody was smart enough to get her off the bus, they carried her into a charity ward. And that’s where I was brought into the world via this accident which kind of paralyzed all the nerves on the side of my mouth. So I was born with this snarl.”
Later in the documentary, Sylvester and his brother, Frank, recalled their parents' turbulent relationship. “I’d be up in bed and you’d just hear them screaming and yelling,” Frank said in the film. The brothers spent much of their youth living in boarding houses instead of at home.
“The majority of the time, I was living in a boarding house,” Sylvester said in the documentary, “basically 12 months a year, never went home, because they just didn’t have time, they were both working.”
on People
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
