Sylvester Stallone underwent 7 surgeries after Steve Austin body-slammed him on ‘Expendables’: ‘I never recovered’
Luckily, his money was quite expendable.
Sylvester Stallone was forced to undergo seven major surgeries after he suffered a neck fracture while filming a fight scene with wrestler-turned-actor Steve Austin on the set of “The Expendables” in 2010.
“I did stupid stuff. I was directing ‘Expendables‘ and, like an idiot, I’m doing take 10, take whatever, and I remember one slam and I could actually feel one bang,” the “Rocky” alum, 77, recalled in his reality TV show, “The Family Stallone,” which is currently in its second season.
“Steve knew,” added the “Rambo” star.
“I never recovered from ‘Expendables 1.’ After that film, it was never physically the same. I’ve warned people: Don’t do your own stunts.”
According to the veteran actor, he required a metal plate to be inserted into his neck.
The actor also needed spinal fusions and treatment for dislocated shoulders.
In a bizarre twist of fate while undergoing a few of his early procedures, Stallone was put in an adjacent hospital bed to fellow “Expendables” star Arnold Schwarzenegger, who was also undergoing surgery for a shoulder injury.
Stallone’s wife, supermodel Jennifer Flavin, admitted during the series that she is terrified every time her husband has to go under the knife.
“Sly tries to mask the pain, pretending like it didn’t happen,” Flavin, 55, said.
“He doesn’t like people to know he’s had so many back surgeries.”
“It’s very scary for our family every time Sly has to go through surgery, because you never know . . . no one knows.”
The actor’s surgeon reportedly told him that he may need to have “artificial discs” placed on his lower spine in the near future.
“It’s really hard to see my father go through yet another painful operation,” Stallone’s daughter Scarlet said.
“My whole childhood, he’s been in pain. He did everything he could to push through the pain and be present, but I couldn’t imagine every waking moment you are just hurting.”
Despite the setbacks, Stallone attempted to make light of the situation by stating that he would be the perfect candidate to play Quasimodo “if they ever need a remake of ‘The Hunchback of Notre Dame.’ “
Stallone’s latest revelations come after he revealed that he had two of his daughters trained in self-defense by Navy SEALS prior to them moving to New York City.
“It was the hardest. It was about six hours we were in those woods,” his daughter Sistine, 25, told The Post in an exclusive interview.
“Sophia and I got our asses whooped by these guys. They were the real deal.”
Sistine was “not surprised” her father had them undergo the rigorous training because “we grew up with him doing these sort of military-esque, self-defense trainings.”
Sophia, 27, revealed to The Post that they used to join their father in the trainings, too.
“Every day at 6 a.m., he would make us eat eggs with ketchup. For some reason, that combination . . . to bulk up,” she said. “But then it was a lot of situps, pushups, pullups.”
“He made the perfect boys,” interjected Sistine.
Scarlet, 21, who lives in Miami and is a junior in college, reportedly did not have to take part in her father’s boot camp.
“I was so happy I was not involved,” she said.
