Sylvester Stallone is opening up about how decades of daredevilry have affected him—and why he considers himself an “idiot” for continuing to do his own stunts year after year. In a recent interview with Fox News Digital, the “Rocky” actor said he has “millions, millions of regrets” about his action career. 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,” he said, adding that he’s never been “quite the same” since the surgeries. Stallone starred in — and also directed — the action thriller “The Expendables” in 2010 alongside Jason Statham, Mickey Rourke and more. While filming a scene where Stallone got tackled by WWE legend Steve Austin, the stunt went wrong and left Stallone with dislocated shoulders and a fractured neck that required more than seven back surgeries.
The “Rambo” actor needed a metal plate inserted into his neck and spinal fusions. Stallone’s moral of the story is to “let other people do their job.” “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.
Let the pro do it,” Stallone said. So yeah, and people go, ‘Aren’t you proud of them?’ No. I think I’m an idiot for doing that.
I’m proud that I broke myself in pieces. Like, duh, no.” The actor shared a similar piece of advice ahead of the release of his memoir, “The Steps,” last month; Stallone told The New York Times that treating his body in the “masochistic” ways he did came “at a terrible price.” “If I could do it over again, I would say, ‘Let someone else carry the banner and don’t do your own stunts.”
Extract — continue reading at the source.
