The real Rambo: The heavy price Sylvester Stallone paid on the way to the top

In an interview for his new memoir, 80-year-old Sylvester Stallone reveals his difficult childhood, the physical violence he suffered from his father, and the emotional neglect from his mother. He describes how the toughness he developed as a defense mechanism affected his life, and reveals that he only experienced true love later in life, with his wife Jennifer Flavin and his children.

In an interview with Fox News ahead of the release of his new memoir, 'The Steps', 80-year-old Sylvester Stallone reveals the dark sides of his childhood. After his parents' divorce, he and his brother were raised in boarding schools by strangers, with his parents visiting rarely. Stallone describes his father as a physically violent and unpredictable figure who caused him to live in fear from a young age. In one of the hardest memories, his father kicked him in the stomach and beat him after he returned with walnut bread instead of regular bread. At age 40, Stallone tried to confront his father and told him he wished they were the same age so he could taste his own medicine. He linked the toughness he developed to genetics and the character of Rambo. He reveals that his mother never hugged him, and that he only experienced true love around age 70, with his wife Jennifer Flavin and his children.