Sylvester Stallone—who reportedly has a net worth of $400 million, according to Celebrity Net Worth— is one of the most famous actors of his generation. But he says he owes most of his success to failure. “If I had made it like I wished early on in my career, I never would have turned to writing,” said Stallone, 76, who drafted the original script for “Rocky” in three days when he was a struggling actor. “I did that to fill time and to feel creative, even though the writing was truly horrible. It wasn’t even birdcage-worthy. You know what I mean? It’s not even worth lining a birdcage with.” Sylvester Stallone Net Worth
Working on a screenplay about Edgar Allan Poe, his literary hero, was a breakthrough for Stallone that eventually led him to “Rocky.” “I just started to identify with the fact that he had almost zero recognition in his own lifetime,” Stallone said. “Let me take my journey and put it into the metaphor of a boxer, because that’s what life is. It’s a struggle, it’s a battle. No one cares about the struggling writer. Everyone knows what it’s like to get hit and want to hit.”
These days, the actor and filmmaker lives in Palm Beach, Florida, and the Los Angeles area with his wife, entrepreneur Jennifer Flavin. The couple has three daughters, Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 21, with whom they appear in the reality TV series “The Family Stallone.” Here, Stallone discusses his former rivalry with Arnold Schwarzenegger, his starring role on the Paramount+ show “Tulsa King” and why he sometimes works out in a top hat.
Here are a few things Sylvester Stallone revealed to WSJ. Magazine…
On what time he wakes up on Mondays, and the first thing he does after waking up:
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“If I’m writing, then it’s a very, very restless time, and I get up at about 5:30 a.m. I used to be a nighttime writer. Then I realized everything was very dismal and I started becoming a morning writer. So I get up and then I psych myself up. I look at the page and go, “This is going to be horrible, but you’re gonna fight through it, so you’re not going to leave until you start to write.”
Before that, I have to start stretching. I have to start moving, get the body going, because there’s nothing worse than sitting down like you’re all decrepit and crinkled up from laying in a fetal position all night long.
Then there’s the time like now, where I get up at the crack of noon and go to bed very, very late. And I just do a lot of daydreaming. What am I going to plan ahead? What’s for the next six months, what’s for the next year? Today, I got up and read two scripts already. And then I realized I have to rewrite these scripts. There’s a curse about knowing how to do things too much. You can’t just focus on one job.”
On his breakfast:
“My wife is focused on breakfast. It’s amazing. It’s avocado, four eggs, cottage cheese, three slices of watermelon and grapes.” Sylvester Stallone Net Worth
On whether he drinks coffee:
“I am, but I keep getting reflux, so I have to cut it down. I used to drink about 10 cups a day. Actually, I used to drink about 25 cups a day when I was doing “Rocky 3.” My entire breakfast would be maybe two [small] oatmeal cookies made with brown rice and 10 cups of coffee because I wanted to keep my body fat down to 2.8%. I was forgetting my phone number. I was eating just tuna fish. My memory was shot, it was completely gone. I was getting all kinds of debilitating physical effects. But it was for the cause.”
On his fitness routine:
“I’ve had five back operations, two shoulders, three neck fusions, both knees—I’m bionic. So I’ve gone from lifting regular weights to mostly bands, cables. It’s kind of like physical therapy. So, you’re using the bar, you’re using different motions and keeping those joints moving all the time.”
On his personal favorite skin care products:
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“Well, if you want to save some money, Nivea is the best. The heavy stuff—you can’t go out, you can’t go anywhere, you’re completely white until it sinks in. I think that skin is very important. It’s the largest organ in the body, and we take the worst care of it. We go out in the sun, we bake it. I spend a lot of time trying to keep the skin in pretty good shape. What is that stuff, La Biologique?”
Biologique Recherche.
“That’ll cost you a little bit. I use that a lot.”
On deciding to play his “Tulsa King” character Dwight as close to himself as he’s ever played a character:
“The hardest thing to do when you’re acting is not act, because you feel like, Oh, I have to act, that’s what they’re paying me to do. So you tend to overdo it. The way I’m talking to you right now, that’s me. And I thought, OK, what if I was a gangster? I’m talking to you and I am a killer. I’m a multiple-murder bank robber, you name it—but I have this personality. I think it’s disarming. I have an outgoing nature, a pretty broad sense of humor. I thought if I could work that in and take people down that course, they’d go, wait a minute, is this some kind of spoof?”
On how he’d describe his sense of humor:
“I tend to be a little caustic in humor. Like if you have nothing nice to say about anybody, sit next to me, like the old joke goes. I’m always trash-talking, and I love getting it back to me. What is the word I call it? Male-pattern badness.”
On whether he’s as menacing to his daughter’s boyfriends as he says he is:
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“I know how these guys think. I happen to have been one. It’s nature, but I want to let them know. I say, “OK, when you’re trying to kiss her, it’s like you’re trying to kiss me at the same time.” I’m very connected to my family, so if you do something that’s inappropriate, it’s like you did it to me. And there’s going to be an issue and it’s going to be a great deal of pain. I’m incredibly protective over my daughters because I know it’s a dangerous planet. I don’t know how [women] do it, because you have to be on guard all the time. I mean, guys are so big and so strong. Why are women so cunning? Why do you think? How about self-preservation, moron?”
On what he thinks is the coolest thing about him:
“I’m pretty witty. I try to find laughs when they’re not in abundance. Sometimes it gets a little irritating and people tell me, shut up. It’s like with me and Arnold [Schwarzenegger]. We have this caustic sense of humor, and we go at each other nonstop. I almost covet a good enemy. He really brings out the best of you. [Back in the day], we couldn’t breathe the same air. But that made us work harder. And then we eventually realized we’re pretty much cut from the same cloth—even though his cloth is more like itchy wool. I’m like silk.” Sylvester Stallone Net Worth
On Adele buying and renovating his house and keeping the Rocky statue that overlooks the pool, and why he didn’t take it with him when he moved:
“I did. But she said, “That’s a no deal That’s gonna blow the whole deal.” She wanted the statue. I like what she’s doing, she’s making it gorgeous.”
On the one piece of advice he’s gotten that’s been important to him:
“You don’t have to beat up on yourself. The world will beat up on you enough. Give yourself a break. I try to really see life with the eye of the tiger and a real sense of humor. It’s not easy, but without humor, this is not a fun place.”
Featured Image: BERTIE WATSON/CONTOUR BY GETTY IMAGES VIA WSJ. Magazine
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