On February 16, 2007 Stallone was detained in Sydney, Australia at the airport after he arrived to promote Rocky Balboa. Customs officials searched bags and confiscated items. Customs officials found 48 vials of the human growth hormone (hGH) Jintropin in Stallone’s personal luggage. Three days later Stallone’s hotel room was searched and items were confiscated. Stallone and his entourage were allowed to depart Australia and he was not required to appear in a Sydney local court for a hearing.
Interviewing officers asking Stallone why he took Jintropin reported that he said:
This stuff gives your body a boost and you feel and look good. Doing Rambo is hard work and I am going to be in Burma for a while. Where do you think I am going to get this stuff in Burma? [Stallone was preparing to go on location near the Thailand/Burma* border to film Rambo (2008).]
Stallone was charged with one count of importing a prohibited import. Human Growth Hormone is banned under the Australian Customs Act and is not approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a muscle building aid.
In a court hearing on May 15, 2007, Stallone pleaded guilty to two charges of possessing a controlled substance.
In a written apology from Stallone, delivered to the court on May 15, Stallone said:
Stallone said the drugs had been prescribed to him for a medical condition. He claimed he was carrying large amounts of hGH because he was about to go on location for three months in Thailand to shoot another movie, Rambo (2008).
On May 21, 2007 he was formally convicted of importing restricted muscle-building hormones into Australia and ordered to pay more than $9,870 in fines and court costs.
In January 2008, multiple media sources reported that Sylvester Stallone admitted using Human Growth Hormone “to get buff.” In a Time magazine interview (Feb. 4), Stallone revealed that he increased his body mass to 209 pounds while using prescription testosterone.
Sylvester Stallone on TODAY during interview with Matt Lauer.
On Today (Jan. 11) Stallone appeared promoting Rambo (2008) in an interview with Matt Lauer. He also defended his hGH use. Stallone explained that you don’t take hGH to be pumped. Stallone said that it’s archaic to think of hGH as a steroid. “It’s amino acids — 191 of them,” Stallone said. “You have to put in years and years and years of hard labor to stay in shape,” he said in response to Lauer’s question of whether Stallone would take hGH to enhance his appearance for a movie role. “[hGH] it takes off the wear and tear … especially if you’re an athlete. The amount of beating that your body takes … the power to recuperate is very limited. So all it does is expedite.”
Rambo (2008): A hellhole beyond your wildest dreams.
Stallone: “All the trails are mined. The only way into Burma is up the river … Shots fired over crew’s head(s).”
People magazine is reporting that Stallone said regarding the filming of Rambo (2008), “There were a lot of death threats … It was a very volatile, dangerous situation. We were filming in territory that was being controlled by some rough players and they didn’t want any light shown on this dilemma, this civil war that’s been going on for 60 years.”
ABC News reported that Stallone and his “Rambo” sequel movie crew witnessed the human toll of unspeakable atrocities while filming along the Myanmar border. “I witnessed the aftermath, survivors with legs cut off and all kinds of land-mine injuries, maggot-infested wounds and ears cut off,” Stallone told The Associated Press in a phone interview Monday. “We hear about Vietnam and Cambodia and this was more horrific.”
A Soldier of Fortune article reported in depth about the state of affairs along the Salween River that borders Thailand and Burma. Stallone explained that from Thailand, “We could actually see the meth labs on the other side. It was unbelievable. I kept saying, ‘Why are these soldiers around these crappy warehouses?’ They told me that each general or colonel has his own business going.”
View Larger Map of location of film location of Rambo (2008) …
* Myanmar is the new name for Burma designated by military junta. The United States and other western nations still refer to the country by its democratic name, Burma.
More …
Soldier of Fortune Magazine
Soldier of Fortune Article on Rambo (2008): BRAVO!! RAMBO TAKES AN SOF MISSION TO THE BIG SCREEN
Jintropin (official site)
