Legendary actor Sylvester Stallone reveals he is an abortion survivor

Nothing makes a more eloquent pro-life statement than the story of someone who survived an abortion attempt.

The latest account comes from Hollywood and iconic film actor Sylvester Stallone, who appeared recently on the podcast Unwaxed, hosted by his daughters Sophia and Sistine, to discuss the upcoming documentary, Sly, which takes a close-up look at his life.

During the podcast Stallone revealed a shocking fact about his past life not covered in the documentary, and which not even his daughters were aware of: Before he was born his mother tried to abort him. At a point in the interview Stallone’s daughter, Sistine, introduced the subject of his birth: “You had said that your mom was nervous to have you. She didn’t want you, right?”

“Not at all,” responded the 78-year-old, three-time Academy Award-winning actor. “My mother would say, ‘The only reason you’re here is because the hanger didn’t work,’ or ‘Bouncing down those steps didn’t cause you to get lost.’

“And she said that, ‘You know, truthfully, Sylvester … if there was really something wrong with your brain, I would have definitely opened up the window and put you on the window sill and let you freeze because I’d be doing you a favor.’” 

As reported by CBN News, when his daughters expressed their shock over the revelation, Stallone offered perspective on his own mother’s life, recalling that her growing-up years were filled with hardship and abuse.  

“My mother was … a troubled person,” he explained. “She was put into an orphanage, you know, and a very cruel orphanage because her father had remarried and the new stepmother hated her. And I think my mother was also kind of rebellious. So she was put into an orphanage that [was] unlike the ones they have today. It was, you know, you’re tied to the bed, you’re whipped … she was terribly molested. And I think her ability to ever show love was short-circuited.” 

According to Texas Right to Life, in the documentary Stallone shares the traumatic nature of his birth, noting that his mother did not properly care for herself during her pregnancy. “Even though she was nine months pregnant, she kept riding around on the bus,” he recalled. “And she went into labor. Somebody was smart enough to get her off the bus. They carried her into a charity ward. And that’s where I was brought into the world.” 

Stallone noted that during his birth the doctor used forceps to deliver him, which led to muscles in his face being paralyzed. “So I was born with this snarl,” Stallone quipped. 

In an interview with CBN nearly 20 years ago, Stallone said that parts of his Academy Award-winning 1976 film Rocky were autobiographical, a reflection of his own painful struggles. He said he felt that God gave him the creative inspiration allowing him to write the script for Rocky in just three days.  

“The character of Rocky was built on the idea that he was chosen to do something,” said Stallone. “That’s why the first image in Rocky is the picture of Christ.” He added that his goal with the original Rocky film was to tell a story of God’s redemption. “This is a story of faith, integrity and victory,” he said. “Jesus is the inspiration for anyone to go the distance.” 

Stallone is not the only celebrity whose life was nearly snuffed out by abortion. As reported by Birth Mother Ministries, the teen-age mother of Academy Award-winning actor Jack Nicholson was pressured to abort him before his birth 87 years ago. Because she gave him life instead, Nicholson has been a staunch pro-life advocate, an unusual position in Hollywood. “I’m very contra my constituency in terms of abortion because I’m positively against it,” said Nicholson. “I don’t have the right to any other view. My only emotion is gratitude, literally, for my life.” 

Similarly, the mother of Portuguese soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo said that she nearly aborted her son. In the documentary Ronaldo, about the soccer superstar’s life, Maria Dolores dos Santos Aveiro revealed that abortion was a strong possibility before her son was born. “He is a child that I wanted to abort,” she recalled, but “God didn’t want that to happen and I was blessed because of that and God didn’t punish me.” 

And as reported by the Catholic News Agency, Italian singer Andrea Bocelli has told the story of how doctors encouraged his mother to abort him.  

In the story, Bocelli tells of how a young pregnant wife was hospitalized with appendicitis. “The doctors had to apply some ice on her stomach, and when the treatments ended the doctors suggested that she abort the child,” Bocelli recounts. “They told her it was the best solution because the baby would be born with some disability. But the young brave wife decided not to abort, and the child was born. That woman was my mother, and I was the child.  

“Maybe I’m partisan, but I can say that it was the right choice.”