Sylvester Stallone on Hollywood, family life and taking on the Kardashians
From Hollywood to reality TV, action hero Sylvester Stallone has opened up about the real reason he and his family are taking on the Kardashians.
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A box-office champion six decades running with three Oscar nominations on his résumé, Sylvester Stallone is a man of muscle and movie moxie, the creative force behind the Rocky, Rambo and Expendables franchises. But now, the 76-year-old Hollywood veteran is heading into new terrain with a reality television show, ceding control – and happily so – to his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, and his daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet on The Family Stallone. Surrounded by his family, the action star tells Stellar, “I let them take over and I’m having a wonderful time. I should have done it a long time ago”.
Living in a house full of women has slowly turned actor, writer and producer Sylvester Stallone into “Rambolina”, a figure he laments is more cuddly cat than cinematic action hero.
“I am a bit of a nuisance,” he admits to Stellar on a Zoom call from the family’s ultra-stylish property in Hidden Hills, California, where he sits flanked by his wife of 26 years, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, and their three daughters, Sophia, 26, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 21.
“But they do a great job running the house,” he adds with a chuckle. “I learnt that if I just shut my mouth, everything works perfect. I used to do it my way and it was chaotic. I mean, seriously, the furniture would be made out of cardboard and old barrels. It was just terrible. So I let them take over and I am having a wonderful time. I should have done it a long time ago.”
Despite his reputation for playing tough guys, Stallone, now 76, “loves female energy”, says Jennifer, 54. “He’s strong, but we’re super-strong women, so he understands the other side. And I think he’s more sensitive to most of what we go through as women and understands the female perspective.”
Stallone agrees that raising his three girls has made him a better man – before adding, with a rueful glance around him, “Don’t take this the wrong way, but it’s like having a lot of parrots as pets. It’s very animated. There’s always wonderful noise, a cacophony. It’s like having music in the house as opposed to when they are gone, when it’s dead silent and I am like, ‘Uh oh.’”
While his naturally foreboding presence (and reputation as a tough guy) has no doubt scared off many prospective boyfriends over the years, Stallone’s daughters say their overprotective dad has also shown his love in unorthodox ways, such as subjecting them to rigorous early morning workout sessions, and teaching them an appreciation for fine cigars. At the same time, Stallone has become the unofficial caretaker of their menagerie of three dogs and a cat. “He grooms all the animals,” Jennifer explains with a smile as one of their pampered pooches, Buster, snuggles down next to him. “He gave the dogs a bath just last night.”
His familial devotion has led Stallone to take a surprising career turn into reality television. He and his family have opened the doors of their California home (they also have a substantial property in Palm Beach, Florida) to film the new Kardashians-style series The Family Stallone.
“They thought I was crazy,” Stallone admits with a chuckle of the reaction of his A-list pals to the news. “They thought this was not normal for an action guy. They said, ‘This just doesn’t fit.’”
With some gentle coaxing from his girls, Stallone came to see unscripted television as an opportunity to spend quality time with his family, while also creating some impressive home movies in the process.
“I love my daughters and I love my wife and I love being around them,” he says, shrugging. “I know how funny and chaotic it is in our house all the time [so I knew it would be entertaining].”
That’s when the Rocky star began to invite his sceptical fraternity of celebrity peers to join him, pleading, “Come on guys, you’ve got to get with the times and step out of the shadows, put down your firearms, and come to town and relax a little bit. This isn’t the Wild West anymore.” Even so, Stallone admits he wasn’t above resorting to trickery to get stars such as Al Pacino involved. “Al thought he was just going to have a piece of pizza with me on a calm Saturday, and instead he walked into a bushwhack [of reality-TV cameras],” he says, laughing. “But he was a gentleman about it – he’s a fantastic guy.”
Jennifer says that Pacino had so much fun filming his impromptu cameo that The Godfather star later shared his enthusiasm by confiding to her, “This is great. I’ve done it all [theatre, television and film], and now I’ve done reality.”
Nodding along, Stallone adds: “Al would make a great reality show. He should do one.”
Eager to step out from their dad’s sizeable shadow, the Stallone sisters have been carving out their own niche in the entertainment business, serving as Golden Globe Ambassadors in 2017 and dabbling in modelling and acting since they were young. “We started a podcast three years ago,” Sophia says of Unwaxed, the lifestyle program she co-hosts with Sistine. “And we really got to show our personalities on it.
“And so [because of its success], for a couple of years we have been approached as a whole family to do a reality show. When they approached Sistine and I [this time], we thought it would be fun to do something together as a family and the timing just seemed right. Of course, the parents were a little bit hesitant at first because they didn’t know what to expect from a reality show.”
His daughters tease that, far from finding the experience daunting, Stallone immediately started looking for his best angles once shooting began.
However, with huge followings on social media themselves, the three women are also supremely on-air savvy. “I mean, we’ve been raised with screens and phones and cameras our whole lives just being related to him,” Sophia says.
While New York City-born Stallone had to work many menial jobs before the film Rocky made him a huge star in 1976, his daughters were born into Hollywood royalty with a surname that could open doors. Yet Stallone is grateful for his bumpy ride to success and marvels at the radical changes he has witnessed along the way.
“I love the fact that I have literally lived through this whole process, from independent filmmakers to studios to CGI,” he explains. “I think that’s why reality has blown up so much. People are getting a little put off by CGI and the fantasy, so they’re watching reality shows.”
Despite his breadth of experience, Stallone jokes that his daughters aren’t often interested in his advice. “They’ve got it figured out for themselves,” he says.
“I give it to them whenever they ask. But every time I do give my opinion, they say, ‘Hey, mind your own business!’”
If anything, Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet are providing their parents with guidance on how to navigate the relatively new frontier of social media. “I think the biggest advice for my dad is that he uses too many filters [on his Instagram],” Sophia says with a laugh. “And my mum doesn’t post enough. She gets so shy. Her family content is cute, but people want to see Jennifer.”
“I feel I’ve had my time in front of the cameras,” Jennifer admits, saying of her daughters, “It’s their turn now.”
The Family Stallone is streaming now on Paramount+.
Originally published as Sylvester Stallone on Hollywood, family life and taking on the Kardashians
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