Sylvester Stallone Once Shared Why His Daughters Becoming Famous Terrified Him

Sylvester Stallone‘s daughters automatically knew what it was like to be famous. But the Rocky star was concerned that being celebrity kids might do more harm than good when it came to his family.

Sylvester Stallone didn’t want his daughters becoming another celebrity cautionary tale

Hollywood is full of stories about young celebrities who go off the rails, and Stallone worried his daughters would be one of them. The Stallone sisters grew up very differently from their famous father. 

Stallone himself was famously brought up in Hell’s Kitchen, New York, which he didn’t enjoy because of its occasionally harsh environment. At one point, the actor had to sell his dog to make ends meet. His Rocky movie changed everything, allowing not only Stallone to live a comfortable lifestyle, but his daughters as well.

Still, Stallone had been in Hollywood long enough to see how too much early fame could impact young minds. This was especially concerning for the actor, since there was a good chance his daughters might dabble in the acting industry.

“It terrifies me because I know that their name will make them a target. I’ve seen it so many times. Look at these young celebrities… they get hammered, living under a microscope,” he once told Mirror. “I’ve been saying this since the day they were born – listen to your mother and father. But as they get older and the hormones start to kick in, they might get like, ‘You don’t know everything, Dad!’ And I’ll just say: ‘Oh, yes I do!'”

But Stallone had already taken precautions to help his daughters deal with fame.

“I can’t stop them going into the entertainment industry, but I can toughen them up,” Stallone said.

How Sylvester Stallone tried preparing his daughters for the real world

Even when Stallone’s daughters were young, he tried to make sure his daughters grew up with empathy before experiencing the real world. Because of their privileged background, Stallone wanted to make sure they weren’t above others who didn’t live their lifestyle.

“I could teach them about real life by throwing them out of the house with $5 and telling them to give me a call in a week,” he said.

As an alternative, Stallone gave his daughters a tour around his hometown.

“The only thing I really ask of them is that they’re nice to people who don’t have it as good. I’ve taken them back to my old neighborhood and shown them kids their own age drinking dry cleaning fluid, hustling and doing drugs,” he said.

Stallone also further credited their mother and his wife Jennifer Flavin, for keeping them grounded.

“But the biggest asset they have in their lives is their mother. She’s the perfect role model,” he said.

According to Stallone, Flavin’s humility might’ve been the best part about her, and it was something he hoped they inherited from their mother.

“She’s so beautiful, but looks in the mirror and sees someone very plain. She’s just a good person. Hopefully, not too many Stallone genes got into the daughters. Fingers crossed they got Flavin genes,” he added.

Sylvester Stallone’s daughters went through Navy Seal-style training to prepare for New York

Stallone seemed to make sure his daughters were as prepared physically as they were mentally for the streets of New York. The sisters wanted to experience the Big Apple while they were still in their mid-20s. But before they could, their father made them go through an intense training regimen designed by real-life Navy seals.

“It was a rigorous routine. Every day at 6 a.m., he would make us eat eggs with ketchup. For some reason, that combination … to bulk up,” Sophia Stallone once told New York Post. “But then it was a lot of sit ups, push ups, pull ups, clean and jerks.”

Stallone also had them chasing a chicken, which was reminiscent of the training seen in his own Rocky movies.

“That is deceivingly hard. I went in there a little cocky, no pun intended,” Sistine Stallone added. “I got beat by a chicken.”