Fact Check: Sylvester Stallone Said His Mom Told Him She Tried to Abort Him With a Coat Hanger
Claim:
Actor Sylvester Stallone said his mother once told him, "The only reason you're here is because the hanger didn't work."
Rating:
In late Aug. 2024, social media buzzed with the claim that actor Sylvester Stallone revealed his mother, Jackie Stallone, attempted to abort him with a coat hanger.
These claims spread across the social media platform X, where users posted about the 78-year-old actor's revelation. Stallone reportedly shared that his mother had told him, "The only reason you're here is because the hanger didn't work." (This refers to a brutal self-induced abortion method using a coat hanger, which was the reality before abortion became legal in the U.S. following the Roe v. Wade U.S. Supreme Court decision in 1973.)
Several accounts on X that harbor anti-abortion sentiments circulated an edited clip of Stallone discussing this with two of his daughters, suggesting that he was an "abortion survivor."
Another account on X stated, "Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone shocked his daughters when he reveals he was almost aborted. 'The only [reason] you're here is because the hanger didn't work,'" receiving nearly 18,000 views, as of this writing.
Rocky actor Sylvester Stallone shocked his daughters when he reveals he was almost aborted.
"The only you're here is because the hanger didn't work." pic.twitter.com/IbULRix6qr— Anna Lulis (@annamlulis) August 29, 2024
The quote was indeed correctly attributed to Stallone, who made the statement during an episode of the Unwaxed Podcast, hosted by two of his three daughters, Sistine and Sophia Stallone.
In Episode 102, released in November 2023, Stallone candidly discussed his troubled childhood and complicated relationship with his mother. He revealed Jackie Stallone had made several disturbing remarks about her attempts to abort him, including the coat hanger reference.
In the full episode, Stallone elaborated on the harsh realities of his upbringing, including growing up in a boarding house in Jackson Heights, Queens, until around the age of 5, and the feeling that he was unloved and unwanted by his parents. Although the conversation focused on the difficulties he faced during his early years, Stallone remained positive, insisting these experiences shaped him into the success he is today.
The entire podcast episode, which runs nearly 1 hour, 15 minutes long, is available on YouTube. The specific segment where Stallone talks about his mother was edited and shared on X, transcribed as follows:
Sylvester Stallone: I grew up in a really bad household.
Sistine Stallone: You had said that your mom was nervous to have you. She didn't want you, right?
Sylvester Stallone: Not at all. My mother would say, "The only reason you're here is because the hanger didn't work." Or, "Bouncing down those steps didn't cause you to get lost." And she said that, "You know, truthfully, Sylvester, if there was really something wrong with your brain, I would have definitely opened up the window and put you on the window sill and let you freeze. Because I'd be doing you a favor." You know, your brain is too young to compete. I almost thought she was joking.
Sistine Stallone: Yeah, of course.
Sophia Stallone: Yeah. What type of mother says that to their child? I mean...
Sylvester Stallone: I just thought that was normal.
Sophia Stallone: Yeah, we remember just holidays alone. You had to truly relearn how to have a healthy relationship when mom [Jennifer Flavin] came into the picture, and having a family because you weren't used to, you know ...
Sylvester Stallone: Yeah, do you remember?
Sistine Stallone: [You weren't used to] normalcy.
Sylvester Stallone: I didn't like Christmas or Thanksgiving.
Sistine and Sophia Stallone: [Or] board games!
Stallone appeared on his daughters' podcast to promote his titular Netflix documentary feature "Sly," released in September 2023. The film explores his childhood and five-decade career. The trailer can be viewed here:
Jackie Stallone led a colorful life, reportedly working as an astrologer, television exercise instructor, trapeze artist and manager for the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, among other pursuits. She died in 2020 at age 98.
In the early 1990s, she appeared on "The Howard Stern Show," where her ex-husband Frank Stallone (Sylvester Stallone's father) surprised her by calling into the radio station during her interview. The conversation became heated, with Jackie Stallone accusing Frank Stallone of wanting to terminate her pregnancy with her son, a claim she said she pretended to go along with.
"He didn't even want Sylvester, he tried to get me to have an abortion!" Jackie Stallone told Stern, continuing, "And I pretended I got one, you were very surprised to find out I had a kid."
While Jackie Stallone has apparently never publicly admitted wanting to abort Sylvester Stallone, she did discuss the difficulties he faced due to a facial injury he incurred at birth.
Following the huge success of "Rocky," which Sylvester Stallone wrote and starred in, Jackie Stallone appeared on television in 1977 and revealed her son's facial paralysis and his failures as a student:
The claim that Sylvester Stallone said his mother attempted to abort him is correctly attributed. The actor made this revelation during a podcast discussion with his daughters, although Jackie Stallone had indicated it was her then-husband, Frank Stallone, who wanted to abort the baby.
Snopes has previously reported on Stallone, including claims that he had abandoned his vintage vehicles and onetime home in Maryland, and the true claim that his first screen efforts was a starring role in a porn film.
Sources:
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