Sylvester Stallone Recounts Traumatic Psych Ward Attack in Memoir
The actor details an incident where a fellow patient allegedly attempted to assault him in a psychiatric facility during his youth.
Sylvester Stallone is set to detail a harrowing experience from his youth in his upcoming memoir, "The Steps," out September 29. In the book, the "Rocky" star claims he was once held in a psychiatric ward where another patient attempted to violently attack him.
Stallone described the facility, which he attended as a teenager for misbehavior, as a place called "Park Lodge or the Snake Pit." In an interview with The New York Times, he recalled the environment as "the heart of insanity," citing the "smell, the filth, people running around naked, clawing, hands tied, drooling."
He recounted a specific incident where a fellow patient, described as large, always naked, and with "rotten teeth," attacked him in a bathroom. The assailant reportedly grabbed Stallone's throat and attempted to assault him by reaching into his pants.
Stallone stated that two guards intervened, beating the other patient with "razor straps."
Upon his return to school, Stallone recalled the principal asking if he had learned his lesson. "I said: ‘I learned a lot more than that lesson. A much better lesson: You can’t break me,'" Stallone shared. He credits this experience with forging a sense of unbreakability in his will, even when facing personal heartbreak.
His memoir also delves into other difficult aspects of his childhood, including claims that his mother was not nurturing and his father was unpredictable and violent. Stallone also revealed he struggled with bulimia and used steroids while preparing for the 1982 film "Rocky III."