Sylvester Stallone says decades of insisting on doing his own movie stunts left him with nine back operations, three neck fusions and both shoulders torn apart — and he now calls himself “an idiot” for ever attempting the work himself.
In an interview with Fox News Digital promoting the fourth season of his Paramount+ series “Tulsa King,” the 80-year-old actor said the toll from a career of action films, particularly after “The Expendables,” has been severe and lasting.
“Millions, millions of regrets. I could literally spend a half hour talking about injuries, the amount, not even like one, I’m talking about 30 hours, 30 minutes of just individual ones, because it becomes compounded. I have been injured many, many times, but after ‘Expendables,’ I ended up with nine back operations, three neck fusions. Both shoulders ripped out, eye, you know, all kinds of lens put… it’s been brutal.”
Stallone said he has never fully recovered and now focuses on managing chronic pain rather than eliminating it. “Now you have to like make peace with the pain as much as you can,” he said.
His advice to anyone tempted to follow his example: don’t. “Let other people do their job,” Stallone said, urging aspiring stunt performers to leave the work to professionals. “Don’t be a stage hawk, or whatever you call it, a showboat. I know a lot of people are thinking about doing stunts… don’t. Don’t. Let the pro do it. Let me explain something, you cannot beat gravity when you hit the ground, you lose, and it’s going to come back.”
He rejected the idea that fans should admire him for taking the risks himself. “I think I’m an idiot for doing that. I’m proud that I broke myself in pieces. Like, duh, no,” he said.
‘Tulsa King’ Season 4
The fourth season of “Tulsa King,” in which Stallone stars as mob figure Dwight Manfredi, premieres October 16, 2026 on Paramount+. Stallone said the character still hasn’t reached his goals, which keeps the drama alive. “He still hasn’t achieved his goal, just when he thinks he’s arrived, another situation, another dramatic episode presents itself, which is exactly what the show needs. We don’t want him to be like, ‘I can finally exhale.’ No, you don’t wanna,” he said.
He described a new season that opens with upheaval, pitting Dwight against rivals converging from multiple directions, including New York. “Well, it’s quite shocking to start off with because certain elements happen that it’s… quite unnerving. And now I’m presented with a new level of, you might say, adversaries, gangsters, criminals that are coming at me technologically, politically, and mafioso-ishly from New York,” Stallone said. “So, I’m getting bombarded from all sides. Plus I have internal struggles with some of my own crew. So it’s kind of like having like a cuckoo’s nest and trying to reign it all in, you know what I mean?”
From New York to California to Florida
Stallone also discussed his permanent 2024 move from California to Florida with his wife, Jennifer Flavin, saying the change reinvigorated him after years of growing complacent on the West Coast.
“In New York, I was a New York animal, like we all are here, I just said, you have to be. And then I got to California and I thought I was in Nirvana,” Stallone said. “I did very well in California. And then California sort of changed. And became more populous and everything else. And I felt myself becoming very complacent and dull.”
He said starting over in Florida without knowing anyone ultimately paid off. “When we went to Florida, I didn’t know one person. And now we have a great circle. So it’s the best move. And my wife was also… I think a lot of people would like to get a little peace and quiet. You know, they’ve been around so many billions of people that actually have water and birds and things like that. There’s something that’s invigorating and nourishing, and I think goes to our biology that makes us happier,” he said.
A Future Son-in-Law Who’s ‘Making Me Look Bad’
Stallone and Flavin share three daughters — Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet. Sophia announced her engagement to boyfriend Michael Sheehan in August, and Stallone had praise, and some good-natured ribbing, for his future son-in-law.
“I thought I actually did it pretty well because she found a guy that I wish every woman found. So I went, ‘Wow, he’s making me look bad.’ With the flowers and this and the constant, ‘Oh, here’s breakfast honey.’ I went wow, calm down guys, you’re gonna make it terrible for us. But he is very nurturing. So I actually wish I was sort of like that when I was younger. I didn’t learn those skills from my family. A good morning was good morning, punch in the face. He’s wonderful and two more to go.”
