Action star Sylvester Stallone alleges he was sequestered in a psychiatric facility as a teenager where a fellow patient attempted to rip his groin off, according to details shared from his upcoming memoir, The Steps, scheduled for release on September 29.
Sylvester Stallone Recalls Terrifying Teen Psych Ward Attack in New Memoir ‘The Steps’
Inside the ‘Snake Pit’ at Devereux Manor
Stallone told The New York Times that students at his high school who broke rules—such as sneaking out to see a girl—were punished by being sent to a facility known as Park Lodge or the Snake Pit. Describing the building, Stallone recalled that it resembled a Tudor home from the 1920s on the outside, but inside represented “the heart of insanity.” Stallone spent roughly two weeks sequestered in the psychiatric ward, surrounded by filth, naked individuals, and patients with tied hands.
During that two-week stay, Stallone stated he was targeted by another patient. “He was big, had no hair, always naked, rotten teeth. They called him Jay Bird because he was always naked as a jaybird,” Stallone told The New York Times. The actor recounted entering a bathroom on the way to the mess hall when the inmate cornered him, grabbed his throat, reached into his pants, and attempted to rip his groin off. Two guards intervened by beating the assailant with razor straps, telling Stallone that nothing was wrong with the attacker because he belonged in a “crazy house.”
Building Unbreakable Will and Overcoming Adversity
Despite the trauma, Stallone told The New York Times that surviving the ordeal forged a permanent sense of resilience. When he returned to school, the principal asked if he had learned his lesson, to which Stallone replied that he learned a much better lesson: “You can’t break me.” The actor noted that this mindset sustained him when he later moved to New York City in his twenties and faced the challenges of his early career.
A representative for Devereux Advanced Behavioral Health, which runs the Pennsylvania educational institution, told The New York Times that while they had not read the memoir, they respected Stallone’s right to tell his story and apologized for any trauma he remembers experiencing.
Memoir Details Dysfunctional Childhood and Physical Struggles
The actor also opens up about physical struggles during his career, admitting to abusing steroids and battling bulimia while preparing for his physical role in 1982’s Rocky III.
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