Sylvester Stallone Reveals His Dad Attacked Him in a Polo Match: ‘I Never Want to See a Horse Again’

In a new documentary about his life and career, Sylvester Stallone recalls being attacked by his father while riding a horse during a polo match.

Cunningnow available to stream on Netflix, chronicles the inspiration and meteoric film career of the writer-director-star, 77. But director Thom Zimny ​​doesn’t shy away from Sylvester’s memories of a troubled childhood, including physical and verbal abuse from his father Frank Stallone Sr. who died in 2011.

“I was raised by a very physical father, so I was no stranger to serious pain,” reveals Sylvester in the documentary.

Born in Manhattan and raised in rural Maryland after Frank’s divorce from Jackie, the mother of Sylvester and his brother Frank Jr., the future Rocky the star became nationally ranked in the sport of polo at the age of 13.

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Sylvester Stallone in the movie “Sly”.

Courtesy of Netflix

Around then, Sylvester claims in the documentary, his father interrupted “in the middle of the game” to scold him. “I was going for a close backhand and I didn’t do anything wrong — he says, ‘You’re pulling the horse too much!'” he remembers.

“I said, ‘I know what I’m doing.’ He says: ‘You don’t know!’ Screaming from the stands.” Sylvester continues: “I drew my horse up to prepare for another throw, and [Frank] he comes out of the stand, grabs me by the throat, throws me to the ground, takes the horse and leaves the field.”

He added: “I laid there and said, ‘I never want to see a horse again in my life’.”

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Later in the film, Frank Jr. also recalls how Sylvester “became an excellent polo player” and could have played at the highest level “if it wasn’t for my father beating him. And that’s why he stopped with sex.”

“I started playing again when I was about 40,” Sylvester recalls. After success in Hollywood as a writer-star Rocky and Rambo franchise, he invested in horses and players so that he could play with his father: “I will set up a super team for my father with ten-goal players. And we will be playing each other in Wellington, the number one ground in the world.”

But in that 1989 polo match he documented Party tonight and other news outlets, Frank again demonstrated violence on the ground.

Sylvester remembers his father “stabbing me in the back with a spear. He hit me so hard that I fell… The horse immediately went over, I don’t know how he didn’t kill me.”

Wincing at the memory, Sylvester adds that his first thought after falling from his horse was, “He just rode off.”

He adds that that experience stopped him from doing sports forever. “From that moment on, I never played polo again. I sold everything, I sold every horse, ranch, truck and that was the end of it.”

Cunning includes footage of the post-match press conference, in which he Consumables star tells the audience, “If you notice, the first cheap shot — and the only cheap shot in the game — was given by my father to his son.”

Sylvester Stallone films as Rocky Balboa.

Courtesy of Netflix

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The documentary also shows footage of Sylvester visiting his father shortly before Frank’s death.

“He’s on his deathbed,” Sylvester recalls later in the film. “He says, ‘You know, Sly … you should learn to love and forgive people.’ I said, ‘Really! That only occurs to you now while the fucking angels are whispering in your ear?… Like you just had an epiphany on your way out?’ He says, ‘Yes, I am.'”

After the premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival. Cunning is now withwatching on Netflix.

Categories: Trends
Source: HIS Education