Sylvester Stallone Needed 7 Surgeries After Filming 'The Expendables'
SYLVESTER STALLONE HAS taken his fair share of damage on-screen over the last four-and-a-half decades, most famously in the Rocky and Rambo franchises. But he has learned the hard way the risks involved in doing your own stunts.
During the Season 2 premiere of his Paramount+ reality show The Family Stallone, the action movie legend revealed that an accident on the set of 2010's The Expendables caused lasting damage to his back that required multiple operations over the next 14 years.
Stallone explained that while shooting a fight scene with his co-star Steve Austin, he was body-slammed into a stone wall. The impact dislocated his shoulders and fractured his neck.
"I did stupid stuff," he said. "I was directing Expendables and, like an idiot, I'm doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam and I could actually feel one bang... I never recovered from [Expendables]. After that film, it was never physically the same... So I warn people: 'Don’t do your own stunts.'"
A metal plate was inserted into his neck to repair the damage, and Stallone underwent spinal fusion surgery to prevent movement between bones. In the episode, he can be seen preparing for his seventh procedure, which he hopes will finally resolve the years-long pain and health complications caused by his injuries.
"It’s really hard to see my father go through yet another painful operation," said Stallone's daughter Scarlet. "My whole childhood, he was in pain. He did everything he could to push through the pain and be present, but I couldn’t imagine every waking moment you are just hurting."
Stallone's wife, Jennifer Flavin, recalls the on-set incident as a "scary time" for the entire family—one they have had to relive each time he has undergone one of his many subsequent surgeries. "He doesn’t like people to know he’s had so many back surgeries," she said. "It's a very scary for our family every time Sly has to go through surgery, because you never know... no one knows." She added: "I hope this is the one to help him live a more comfortable life."
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