Sylvester Stallone used steriods, became bulimic filming Rocky

Sylvester Stallone has opened up about how far he went to achieve his physique for the Rocky film franchise.

In an interview with the New York Times promoting his memoir, The Steps, Stallone reflected on how his relationship with his body has changed over the course of his career.

During the height of the Rocky franchise, the actor became known for his very muscular physique.

"It was my armour," he shared. "I started to think: Design your body like a jaguar, a cat. Not big like Arnold, but more feral and aggressive and very limber and athletic."

But the Rambo star admitted that his body image became distorted and led him to develop bulimia while filming Rocky III.

"It became an obsession. Really bad. It got to the point where I became bulimic. I got down to 2.6 percent body fat when I was doing Rocky III, and I couldn't hold anything down. Or I didn't want to keep it down because I became so obsessed with staying at that point of fitness, literally an obsessive body-worship kind of thing. And nobody does it without additives and drugs, period. I don't care what they say."

When asked whether he was taking steroids to achieve his physique, Stallone confirmed that he was.

"Oh, my God, you have to. But you do it in a sensitive way, six weeks on, six weeks off. People go, 'Oh, you don't get that way naturally.' No, you don't. But that also took a terrible toll," he revealed.

"I've abused my body. I've had nine back operations, two shoulder operations, three neck fusions. Everything is held together with baling wire, but I still want to stay in good shape."