Actor Sylvester Stallone says he still carries pain and guilt nearly 15 years after the death of his son Sage, who died in 2012 at age 36.
Sage Stallone was found dead at his home in Los Angeles on July 13, 2012. His death was attributed to coronary artery disease related to atherosclerosis, which caused a heart attack.
In an interview with The New York Times, the 80-year-old actor described the lingering guilt he feels over his son’s death.
“The thing is, you have so many episodes of guilt. Like: What could I have done? Should I have been there? What if I did that? If I went right or went left?” Stallone said.
Stallone recalled learning of his son’s death through a sudden phone call from his mother’s new husband, a doctor he had never met.
“I’ll never forget, it was so cold: My mother’s new husband, who I’d never even met, who was a doctor, called me and goes: ‘Sly, he’s gone. Sage — he’s gone,’” Stallone said.
“I went, ‘Gone where?’ ‘He died, he’s gone. I’m sorry.’ Click,” he recounted.
Stallone said he remained composed in the days after Sage’s death while handling the funeral and supporting family members, but his grief later surfaced.
“And then about a week later, I was all alone in my room, and a wail came out of me I’ve never heard before or since. It was just pain and grief and guilt. It was not human,” he said.
Beyond the pain, Stallone remembered his son as a kind person.
“He had a great mother. He would have done wonderful things in the future. I just had no idea that he had something that you would expect a very advanced adult to have. But no, you don’t get over that,” he said.
Stallone also is the father of Seargeoh, his other son with Sasha Czack, and daughters Sophia, Sistine and Scarlet, whom he had with Jennifer Flavin.
Sage Stallone appeared alongside his father in the 1990 film “Rocky V,” playing the son of Stallone’s character, Rocky Balboa.
