Sylvester Stallone on childhood, overcoming odds and what he wants his legacy to be

As if you didn't know that Sylvester Stallone and Rocky which premiered nearly half a century ago. So he starred in and wrote this classic underdog film that made him a household name. There are many ways to describe the American icon. An icon is the word here. An action star, yep. A director, yep. Prolific writer, yep. And proud father, check, check, check, check, check. And now he's adding Kennedy Center honoree to his list of accolades. So we traveled to his home in Florida for a wide-ranging and emotional interview. I only had one request when we went in to edit. Please don't start with the Rocky music. And guess what we're starting with? Stallone told us how the story of one of his most famous characters resembles his own. What do you think when you hear that dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun-dun today? What do you think about that? It's almost Pavlovian. It's such a, like, drool. Watching Rocky with Rocky, that's very drool. He doesn't even shave. Come on, Rock. I remember we were just running and running. I go, where are we going? It doesn't matter. Just keep running. A lifetime of training has led Sylvester Stallone to this seat. Let's talk about your Kennedy Center honorees. People start thinking about their legacy. Yeah. For many people. What would you like yours to be? Hmm. I really want to be a symbol for how an average person, really an average person, can overcome overwhelming odds. Before he was Rocky Balboa or John Rambo, he was just Sly with an unusually deep voice. Did it bother you having a deep voice? It's working for you now. It did because it intimidated people. Like, you're in your class. Hi, my name is Billy. I'm Sly. It's just like, whoa, this guy eat a bullfrog? And you're eight. Can Mary come out? I'm 11. His deep voice and slur were a result of an injury during childbirth that also caused his face to droop. He says he was relentlessly. I had no friends. I literally would. I would find myself stealing money to buy friends. Like, I get five bucks out of my mother's first. You know, it would be my friend. Really? Really? Wow. Life at home. It wasn't much easier. When he was 11, his parents divorced and he moved in with his father, who he says was both emotionally and physically abusive. It's hard to navigate because you're gonna catch it, especially when you're a bit rebellious like me. You're gonna get beaten after a while. You learn to just expect it. For example, my father, when he used to whistle, I knew it was coming. Stallone says he turned to movies to cope with reality. I worshipped escapism, and I didn't think about actors, Gayle, at all. It was more of us, like, mythic heroes. Like who? Like Steve Reed. When I saw Steve Reed at 12 and a half years old, it literally changed my life. I said, I'm gonna be that guy. I don't want to be what's at the house, but I do want to be this noble creature. In his early 20s, Stallone moved to New York City to pursue that dream, teaching himself to write after struggling as a young actor. I was able to plumb into everything I've been through and put it on the page. Every one of these is a screenplay, and it goes all the way around there, and what's unusual is the one that's behind you, Gayle, is this is the one that started it all. This is Rocky. This is the original? That's the original in the case, and, you know, just typed up on our little typewriter back in the day. This is, of course, look at the hat. Let me see. Put it on, please. Put it on. There you go. How you doing, honey? Yo, Adrian. Yo, Adrian. You need somebody to walk you home tonight? You need somebody to walk you home, you know? Because there's a lot of creeps in the neighborhood. There's a lot of creeps around here. Every block is a creep. Well, you can always tell a creep by their hat. I trained you to be a fighter and not a billboard. And that is a real robe? There's only one. Wow. What does that mean to you, Sly, when you look at this? The robe, the fedora, all of that? It's like, did this really happen? And it almost didn't. The studio was against Stallone starring in his own film. You write Rocky yourself, and you go to pitch it to the studios. They wanted the script, but they didn't want you. At a time Well, I mean, it's a volcanic moment, and then it was very sad. Why? Because you want people that you love, that denied you. Now you're here, you're at the Oscar, and they don't want to go. You realize that at that moment, that you're never, ever going to come to terms with this. And it's like, what more do you need? Really, what more do you need to do to say, I'm here? And I wish I couldn't, and I pray, and I do everything, but it's always there. There's always some residual thing there. I'm a tough guy, trust me. And if it gets to me, I can imagine it gets to a lot of really strong men. Following the success of Rocky, Stallone co-wrote and starred in another blockbuster. Nothing is over! Tell me what John Rambo means to you, and how he came about for you. John Rambo is definitely my alter ego. He's my father. Does he? 100%. That's all I had to do was clone him. But the difference is, Rambo is sad. Rambo is a disenfranchised child. He was a child of America, and America asked him to do a chore. He did the chore. And America rejected him. And I go, ah, I can relate to this. So I gave it that kind of empathy. After two hit franchises early in his career, he endured a series of box office flops. So there was a big drought in your career. Huge. Your agents dropped you. Well, we had locusts, and frogs, and drought, and earthquake. It was more than a drought. It was about eight years of spiderwebs on the phone. And what are you thinking about yourself during that time? How do you... I was crumbling. My self-righteousness was crumbling. And I realized my daughters had no idea what I did for a living. They'd never seen me act. Slide! Slide! That changed when Rocky Balboa made a comeback in 2006. The studio said, quote, over our dead body. You're done. Rocky is done. But he persisted. That was going to be my last film, because I just didn't want to go out a total loser, especially on Rocky. And it came out pretty well. Yes. Then I go, maybe I got one more in here. Then he do Rambo. And then maybe one more. Then he do Expendables. And the work, well, it keeps coming. He's currently filming season four of his hit show, Tulsa King. But there's still one thing Stallone wants fans to get right about his cinematic origin story. Gail, the toughest thing about Rocky, and even to this day, I bristle when I hear it's a sports movie. It's not. It's a love story. It starts with love. This guy has been chosen. And then this girl, he realizes he can't win. And this is my biography. I can't win. And then I come home, and I'm laying there next to Adrian. I go, I can't win. He's just too good. It's impossible. And she said, what are we going to do? What are we going to do? The we part. And I go, there it is, guys. They go, but no, it's boxing. I said, guys, I'm begging you. This movie will rise and fall on love. Not fight. Everyone can sort of go, oh, my God, it's the little things in life. It's the love. It's the nurturing. That's the victory. You can watch the 48th annual Kennedy Center Honors on Tuesday, December 23rd at 8 o'clock Eastern Pacific here on CBS and streaming on Paramount+. I just have to say, this is one of my favorite interviews I've ever done. I have a huge girl crush on him, and his wife, Jennifer, knows it. Number one, he is so thoughtful and so smart. Did you all know he's written over 40 scripts that have made it to the screen over the course of his career? Did not know that. He's had at least one hit movie or two TV show in every decade from 1970 through the 20s. I don't think people really understand the breadth and the depth of the man in his work. And I was so blown away by all the backstories that he had, the emotion he showed. I think that, you know, I'm sure you might feel a little sensitive about that, but I think people got to see there's really strength in the vulnerability of that. There's incredible strength. Go ahead, we're going to have the same reaction. Yeah, and I'm thankful that you left that in there because showing that vulnerability is strength. And I think a lot of men need to see other men cry and tap into that emotion. Gil, that was one of the longer pieces we've done, and I wanted more. Please tell me there's more. Believe me, I wanted more too, and I was told no. Do we have an extended cut that we're putting on YouTube? Shout out to you, Katie Smith, on my team. She took the lead on this one because I fought a bit against opening with Rocky because that's how Clay used to hire everybody. But it worked, so you were right. I was wrong. Craig Shay, who edited, knockout piece. And special thank you to Jennifer, his lovely wife, because because of Jennifer, we got the Rocky movie number six. She read the screenplay. She was choked up, and she advocated for him to do it. He's got three lovely daughters and a son, and he's just great. He's an amazing, amazing individual. Thanks to Sly for being so present. It means a lot. What he said about parenting, it means a lot.