Sylvester Stallone Sold His Dog for $40 Before ‘Rocky’ Sold — Then Bought Him Back for $15K
Sylvester Stallone is an actor best known for his many famous movie roles. Most notably, he was a star of the Rocky franchise and the Rambo films.
However, before becoming one of Hollywood’s most famous actors, Stallone lived paycheck and paycheck and struggled to make ends meet. In fact, in one story, Stallone even sold his dog for some money before buying him back.
Sylvester Stallone worked odd jobs before hitting it big
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Stallone was one of many aspiring actors trying to make it in the entertainment world.
According to a 1978 interview with Playboy, in order to get some money in his pocket, Stallone took on several odd jobs, including cleaning lions’ cages at Central Park Zoo and being an usher at a movie theater.
He also acted in a pornographic film called Party at Kitty and Studs. Stallone explained to Playboy about his decision to star in the movie, “I was also starving when I did it. I’d been bounced out of my apartment and had spent four nights in a row at the Port Authority Bus Terminal, trying to avoid the cops, trying to get some sleep and keeping my pens and books in a 25-cent locker. I mean, I was desperate. That’s why I thought it was extraordinary when I read in one of the trade papers that I could make $100 a day. And the fact that I had to take off my clothes to do it was no big deal. There wasn’t any hard-core stuff in the movie, so what did I care?”
He also said, “You know, when you’re hungry, you do a lot of things you wouldn’t ordinarily do, and it’s funny how you can readjust your morality for the sake of self-preservation.”
Sylvester Stallone sold his dog to get some money before ‘Rocky’
When Stallone was a struggling actor, he worked on various scripts, including what would later become Rocky. Stallone also had a dog named Butkus who kept him company. However, in a desperate situation, Stallone once sold Butkus for money.
“Years later when things got even worse I had to sell him for $40 in front of a 7-Eleven store, because I couldn’t afford food,” Stallone wrote in a 2017 Instagram post. “Then like A modern day miracle, the screenplay for Rocky sold, and I could buy and buy him back, but the new owner knew I was desperate, and charged me $15,000.”
Stallone added, “He was worth every penny!”
Sylvester Stallone’s net worth today
Stallone has since come a long way from his days of working odd jobs and selling his dog for money.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, the legendary actor is worth a whopping $400 million. He has made money not just from his acting work but as a producer, director, and screenwriter as well. Stallone is reportedly bringing in $1 million per episode for his Paramount+ series Tulsa King.
For decades, he had lived in a 20,000-square-foot home in a gated community in Beverly Hills. Stallone sold the home to Adele in 2021 for $58 million. In February 2022, he bought an $18.2-million in Hidden Hills, California.
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