Sylvester Stallone reflected on the moment he learned that his eldest son, Sage Stallone, had died at 36, describing the phone call as devastating in its bluntness.
In his memoir The Steps: A Memoir, Stallone revisited the 2012 loss and the questions that continued to follow him afterward. Sage died in Los Angeles on July 13, 2012, from coronary artery disease linked to atherosclerosis.
Sylvester Stallone described the shocking call that informed him of son Sage’s death at 36
Stallone said Dr. Stephen Levine, his mother’s third husband, delivered the news while the actor sat in his office working on a screenplay.
“He goes, ‘I’m calling to say he’s gone,’” Stallone recalled.
According to OK!, what stayed with him was not only the message but also the way Levine delivered it.
“It [the call] was just so cut and dry and unemotional. ‘Sorry, gone. See you later. Bye.’ That was it. Not like, Can I help you? Nothing. And that was devastating,” Stallone said.
The actor also spoke about the future he had imagined for Sage Stallone. He said his son had found his own niche and believed he could have accomplished more.
“I had great hopes for him,” Stallone said. “He was going to do something really wonderful because he found his own niche, which wasn’t about performing, which I thank God … but I had no idea that he was ill.”
Stallone remembered Sage as “a very kind kid” and said reminders of him remained difficult to face.
“When you see a photo, it’s rough,” he said. “Real rough.”
The loss also left Stallone questioning whether he could have changed anything.
“The thing is, you have so many episodes of guilt. Like: What could I have done? Should I have been there? What if I did that? If I went right or went left?” he shared.
The relationship between Sylvester Stallone and his son had previously gone through difficult periods. Sage said in a 1996 interview that a scene he filmed with his father in Rocky V reflected real frustrations he had carried.
“When I was screaming [in the movie] ‘You never spent time with me! You never spent time with my mother!’ that was true,” Sage said.
He added that their relationship changed after filming and said they “would do anything for each other.”
In another interview, Stallone said the grief had not disappeared.
“But no, you don’t get over that,” he said.
