Sylvester Stallone Sparks Health Concerns: 'Rocky' Legend Relies on a Cane for First Time in Public Following Decades of 'Injuries' From Doing His Own Stunts
Sylvester Stallone sparked health concerns with his appearance at the Kennedy Center Honors.
Dec. 8 2025, Published 1:00 p.m. ET
Sylvester Stallone looked a little rocky as he relied on a walking cane while being honored with a Kennedy Center medal, RadarOnline.com can report.
The 79-year-old action movie icon admits the aftermath of doing many of his own stunts has taken its toll on his body.
Kennedy Center Honorees
The honoree was spotted using a cane for support to walk.
Stallone was feted by President Trump Sunday night at the annual Kennedy Center Honors gala, along with fellow recipients KISS, Gloria Gaynor, Michael Crawford and George Strait.
As he walked down the red carpet, the Rambo star did not try to hide his gold-plated cane, posing prominently with it for pictures.
Along the way, he confessed to one person he's had eight back surgeries in the past, and another needed soon. The star took a step back and said with a shrug, "It adds up."
Fans on social media had a hard time witnessing the hobbled superstar.
"Seeing Sly Stallone with a cane made my heart skip a beat," one person tweeted on X.
A second person echoed: "So sad to see that Mr. Stallone is using a cane," while a third person reasoned, "I hate to see a man I have had so much respect for age, but time catches up with us all."
Stallone's Broken Bones
Stallone did not hide the cane from cameras.
Stallone has spoken out about his dangerous lifestyle in the past, sharing in his 2024 reality show The Family Stallone that he has "never recovered" from the myriad of injuries he's suffered while making action films.
Among his injuries, he notes he had a metal plate inserted into his neck and underwent "spinal fusion surgery" to fix his broken bones.
Stallone explained at the time: "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.
"After that film, it was never physically the same."
Rocking and Rolling to the Hospital
President Trump helped select this year's honorees.
Just last month, Stallone revealed the making of Rocky IV was so bruising, he ended up in intensive care after insisting on taking full-force punches during its climactic fight.
Stallone wrote, directed, and starred in the 1985 film, which pitted Rocky against Dolph Lundgren's lab-built Soviet "fighting machine" Ivan Drago in a blood-spattered bout that ended up mirroring the era's geopolitical anxieties and ultimately became the biggest box office hit of the Rocky series.
Lundgren said the brutal realism of that final 15-round showdown came at a serious cost once Stallone ordered him to abandon pulled punches.
The towering action man recalled: "He said, 'Hit me, Dolph!' I think I hit him a little bit too hard a few times... ."
Lundgren's blows to Stallone's chest were actually so fierce his heart swelled, and his blood pressure shot up, landing him in intensive care for more than a week.
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Stallone Puts Up a Fight
The filming of the 'Rocky' movies was especially hard on the action star.
Lundgren also recalled how the production pushed both him and Stallone way beyond normal stunt work, using unforgiving 8oz gloves and improvising punch combinations closer to a genuine heavyweight contest than a choreographed movie sequence.
The actor said, "The fight scenes were tough. But I was very tough in those days. I was a contact karate fighter – I was used to getting beaten up for real.
"I was always impressed by Stallone. I was 10 years younger, and I was a karate champion.
"He kept up with me. We did hit each other, especially in the body. Even to the face sometimes."
