Sylvester Stallone is one of the biggest Hollywood stars of all time known for all the spectacular franchises he has starred in and co-created. Yet it is his Rocky franchise that remains the biggest and most influential in popular culture. While the actor is now famous and among the most influential celebrities, back before his fame, he was just a broke guy with an empty pocket.
With a baby on the way and no money for rent or food, the actor was forced to sell his beloved pet dog. But the moment he got paid for the Rocky script, the actor rushed back to buy his dog back,
The Story of Sylvester Stallone And Butkus
Every pet owner would relate to Sylvester Stallone after hearing the heartwarming story of his pet dog, Butkus. Way before the first Rocky film was made, the star was just another struggling actor, working hard to make ends meet. But nothing seemed to be working out for him.
In a sweet Instagram post back in 2017, the actor revealed how he was living back in the 1970s with his dog Butkus,
“1971… we were both, thin ,hungry and living in a flophouse above a subway stop, I used to say this apartment had ” … Hot and cold running roaches” anyway there was not much to do except spend time with each other and that’s where I started to learn the craft of screenwriting…”
The actor added how he would spend time with the dog since he rarely ever went out. But when things went hard, he was forced to sell the dog just for some extra cash.
“Years later when things got even worse I had to sell him for $40 in front of a 7-Eleven store,because I couldn’t afford food, then like A modern day miracle, the screenplay for Rocky sold, and I could buy and buy him back, but the new owner knew I was desperate, and charged me $15,000 … He was worth every penny!”
As heartwarming and tragic as the story is, Stallone’s tale of selling his dog has turned into a controversial legend over the years. The reason has been the true details of this story.
The Tale of Butkus Has Turned Into A Controversy
As tragic and heartbreaking as the story of Sylvester Stallone selling his dog is, the tale has been pretty controversial. In an interview with ShortList, in 2013, Stallone stated,
“Yeah, I sold my bullmastiff Butkus to a little person… I tied my dog up at the store with a sign that said a hundred bucks. I got $50 from this guy called Little Jimmy. When I sold the Rocky script, I went to see Little Jimmy and begged for the dog back. He lined up his children. ‘Oh my kids love the dog.’ I said, ‘You’ve only had him for a f*ckin’ week!’ He wanted to fight me and he said he was gonna kill me – he was a crazy little person! I couldn’t fight him – they’d arrest me – so I offered to pay double. Anyway, $3,000 and several threats later…”
While he revealed he also put Little Jimmy in the first Rocky film after he got the script sold for $1 million (via Forbes), in another iteration of the tale (via Total Rocky), Stallone had added how the other family he had sold the dog to had it for 6 months. Yet in 2020, Frank Stallone (his younger brother) in a Facebook post had revealed,
“This is such a b*llsh*t story, my brother loved his dog Butkus, he drove out to California with him and had him since he was a little puppy. “
While Butkus passed away in 1981 due to a heart attack, the mystery of this tale continues on.