Sylvester Stallone: Actor and filmmaker releases memoir

After turning 80 in July, Sylvester Stallone released his memoir dubbed 'Steps' on Tuesday. However Stallone, one of the most successful movie stars and filmmakers in history, insists that for a long time, he had been reluctant to write about his own life.

“I was approached a few times (over the years) and the one thing I didn’t want to write about is my life. Everyone does. It’s this ambivalent and roller coaster ride life, and mine is not always the most pleasurable ride. And I thought, ‘What am I known for?’ Kind of like, pulling off this minor miracle in 1976, which falls under the heading of inspiration. 'That’s what I want to do,' because the character was inspiring and I want to tell the people how it all came to be,” Stallone says.

An unplanned and unwanted child, Stallone says it was tough to look back on the hardships he faced, before breaking into the film industry.

“I spent 50 years burying that stuff. And it’s like you come across a lost city, and you start to become your own spiritual archaeologist, digging down. And a lot of it it’s not pretty. But I didn’t want this to be, ‘Oh, woe is me.’ Everyone has issues and a lot worse than me. I just wanted to touch on the essence because I still have this conundrum. If everything was really nice, maybe I wouldn’t be here, you know what I mean? If I didn’t have that insecurity which drives us. You know, insecurity is a great motivator. It can destroy you, but it can keep you going up all night long.”

His memoir comes weeks before a fictionalized and semi-authorized version of his story, Peter Farrelly's “I Play Rocky," is released in theaters. Stallone praised the team, saying, "it's fantastic and the kid did a great job. This is so odd. They usually do this when you’re dead. It's 50 years to the day almost when it ('Rocky') came out. And if he gets nominated, like it's impossible to get nominated playing me playing Rocky. It's so surreal. But I have to give Peter Farrelly, the director (credit). I never in a million years had any confidence this would work. I go, 'OK, thank you. Very brave.' But he said, to the everyday person, this is kind of a fantastic journey. 'Rocky' is fiction. This is real. And that's what people are hooking onto".

Stallone is still working, most recently featuring as mobster Dwight “The General" Manfredi in the Paramount+ series “Tulsa King.”