Biggest Revelations From Sylvester Stallone's New Memoir 'The Steps' — Including His Abusive Childhood and Son Sage's 2012 Death

Sylvester Stallone rocked fans with a string of shocking revelations in his new memoir.

Released on September 29, The Steps: A Memoir details the award-winning actor's "unlikely path to stardom and the creation of the greatest underdog story ever told."

He also reflected on publishing the book, saying he wanted to tell the story behind the "minor miracle" that became Rocky.

"I was approached a few times, and the one thing I didn't want to write about is my life," he admitted in an interview on September 15. "It's, everyone's got, you know, this ambivalent and roller coaster ride life. And mine, it is not always the most pleasurable ride, and I thought: 'What am I known for?' Kind of like pulling off this minor miracle in 1975, which falls under the heading of inspiration. That's what I want to do. Because the character was an inspiration, I wanted to tell the people how it all came to be."

Scroll down to discover the struggles, secrets and setbacks Stallone laid bare in his revealing new memoir.

In The Steps, Stallone wrote about his violent, affection-starved childhood — though he intentionally kept some of his darkest memories out of his memoir.

He shared more details about his upbringing in interviews before the release of his book, saying there was "zero touching" and no hugging while he was growing up. His parents also did not attend the 1977 Oscars with him when he was nominated for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay for Rocky.

"You want people that you love that denied you, now you're here, you're at the Oscars, and they don't want to go," he told CBS Mornings co-host Gayle King. "You realize that, at that moment, that you're never ever going to come to terms with this. And it's like, what more do you need? Really, what f------ more do you need to do to say, 'I'm here.'"

Stallone continued, "Parents should really wise up. Kids are the same as soft clay. They really are. You mold them, and you dent them, and you hurt them, or you drop them off the table, and they're not the same shape anymore. I still walk around with it. And I wish I couldn't. And I pray, and I do everything, but it's always there."

The Oscar-nominated actor's difficult childhood extended into his school years, where he continued to struggle with discipline and behavior. At one point, he was sent to the high school's punishment block, known as "Snake Pit," whenever he got into trouble.

For Stallone, the place was "basically a mental hospital doing double duty as a solitary confinement detention hall" and filled with men in severe states of distress. He revealed in his memoir he was assaulted by a burly, n---- inmate nicknamed Jay Bird, who "clawed" at his p---- like "he wanted to rip it off."

"I yelled for help as loud as I could, as he dug his nails into my crotch, ripping at it, trying to tear off my pants," he continued.

In an excerpt shared by CBS News, the Rambo star recalled being broke while his first wife, Sasha Czack, pregnant and he was desperately trying to come up with an original idea that could revive his career.

"I knew that I needed to find something special, but also something that most people could relate to. I just had no idea where to start," he admitted. "Even if I did, I wasn't sure the opportunity with Chartoff and Winkler was still there, or that I deserved it. I had my chance with them, and I blew it by giving in like a coward and selling the rights to Paradise Alley for a hundred bucks."

At a certain point, he realized he was writing too directly about himself as a struggling actor, and the shift helped him to turn his own experience into a broader underdog story centered on boxing.

"I thought of life as a boxing ring. When you decide to get in there, 'life' will hurt you if you don't fight. You're going to get hit, knocked down. But you can't complain. You got in there, now you've got to figure out how to survive," Stallone shared in the book. "This character will definitely have to be a fighter, whatever his dreams are. But maybe he's an actual fighter. 'Maybe he's a boxer,' I thought."

Stallone met Henry Winkler while working on The Lords of Flatbush. Despite their very different backgrounds, the Demolition Man actor said he and Winkler connected almost immediately, later describing the pair as an "odd couple."

"He was an intellectual Jewish kid from the Upper West Side who graduated from the Yale School of Drama-the real deal. I had to learn everything the hard way," he scribed. "We were anomalies in each other's lives. To see us together was like watching a zebra hang out with a buffalo. Still, we clicked, because Henry is a genuinely wonderful human being."

Years later, their friendship proved especially important when Stallone and Czack arrived in Los Angeles with little money and nowhere to stay. At the time, Winkler reportedly showed up "like a god-send" and helped the then-couple find an affordable motel.

The Expendables star's mother, Jackie Stallone, died on September 21, 2020, at the age of 98. Sylvester later revealed in his memoir and accompanying interviews that he did not attend her funeral, a decision he discussed while reflecting on their deeply complicated relationship.

Sylvester's father, Frank Stallone Sr., died on July 11, 2011, at the age of 91.

Elsewhere in The Steps, Sylvester acknowledged that many people believe the inspiration for Rocky Balboa's character "came from the fight between Muhammad Ali and Chuck Wepner."

"That's really not true," he wrote, before adding, "The real inspiration came from an authentic heavyweight champion named Rocky Marciano who fought in the late forties and early fifties, when I was a boy. Marciano was exactly my size. He was the son of Italian immigrants raised in a tough industrial town. He didn't start boxing until he was in his mid-twenties, which is unheard of for champion fighters. He finished his career undefeated, the only heavyweight to ever do that."

According to Sylvester, Rocky was "the perfect prototype" for the character he was creating.

In The Steps, Sylvester revealed that his determination to play Rocky was driven by more than career ambition. After growing up feeling unloved by his parents, he hoped the film's success might finally "make them proud" in some way.

"All I wanted, more than money, was to feel my mother's hands holding my face and saying, 'I love you, my son,' or my father's arm around my shoulder pulling me close," Sylvester wrote. "Doing Rocky was the only thing I could think of that might make this miracle happen... maybe."

It also became part of his motivation to hold onto the lead role despite being offered of a whopping amount to sell the script without starring in it. The producers ultimately agreed to let him play the titular role.

He continued in the book, "I had been rejected and rejected to the point where my life was nothing but rejection. Now it was like the clouds parted and I could see and feel the warmth of the sunlight for the first time in many, many years. I dropped the phone, dropped to my knees, and cried."