Sylvester Stallone infamously suffered a major back injury while filming The Expendables in 2009, and now he’s letting fans know that he never truly recovered from it.
Stallone has his reality show The Family Stone airing its second season right now; in an episode of the new season, Stallone addressed what happened on the set of The Expendables and how much that injury cost him:
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“I did stupid stuff,” Stallone said on the show, referencing the punishing stunt work in his films. “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].”
If you don’t know your cinematic history, Stallone was filming a third-act sequence in Expendables where his character, Barney Ross, has a major final fight with villain henchman “Paine” (Steve Austin). Barney’s forte is gunplay, but Paine forces him into a hand-to-hand wrestling bout where the two mercenaries are literally throwing each other into rock walls. Stallone really did a lot of those tumbles and falls – including a slam that injured everything in the backside of his body. Stallone dislocated his shoulders, fractured his neck and multiple vertebrae, and has required multiple operations over the last fourteen years, including having a metal plate inserted into his neck and spinal fusion surgery; during the same episode of The Family Stone Season 2, we also witness Stallone preparing for his seventh back surgery in as many years, still hoping to relieve years of pain and related health complications.
“After that film, I was literally, physically, never the same,” Stallone shares during the show. “So, I warn people, don’t do your own stunts… There’s something kind of romantic about ‘doing your own stunts. There’s something very unromantic about after doing your own stunts.”
The Family Stone also features Stallone’s wife Jennifer Flavin and his daughters with her, Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet. It’s pretty clear in the episode (if you had to still wonder) that making Expendables was not worth the long-term cost Stallone has had to pay:
“He doesn’t like people to know he’s had so many back surgeries,” she said during a confessional scene. “It’s a very scary for our family every time Sly has to go through surgery, because you never know . . . no one knows. I hope this is the one to help him live a more comfortable life.”
We wish Sly Stallone the best with his continued recovery. The Family Stone streams on Paramount+
