Dolly Parton Told Sylvester Stallone He Had a ‘Blind Spot’ Where His ‘Compassion and Spirituality’ Should Be

Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone acted together in the 1984 film Rhinestone. Parton spoke glowingly about her time working with Stallone. She’d been at a personal low point, and he brought joy into her life. Still, she said she didn’t like the way he treated other people. Parton told Stallone that he lacked compassion.

Dolly Parton offered Sylvester Stallone some advice

Parton and Stallone worked together in 1984. She said they got along, but he was prickly with other people. 

“I see how his mind works. If you were in love with him, he’d pick out all your weaknesses and either use them to help you or use them against you,” Parton said, per the book Dolly on Dolly. “I told him right up front, ‘Sly, please, please, please don’t get on me like you do other people. I know what I am, who I am, and I happen to be happy with me.’ So he never bothered me, but when he was in a bad mood, I couldn’t wait to see who he was going to fire or curse out next.”

Parton said she told Stallone he could stand to be kinder to those around him. She said that comments like these put her and Stallone at odds.

“I always told him he was spectacular, but that he had a blind spot where compassion and spirituality ought to be,” she said. “He was amused by me, I think, but he couldn’t deal with me on a day-to-day basis because I’m too raw and honest.”

Dolly Parton enjoyed working with Sylvester Stallone

While Parton thought Stallone had some room for growth, she enjoyed working with him. Rhinestone was a critical and financial flop. But Parton said it was worth it to be able to work with Stallone.

“No matter how big a financial disaster Rhinestone was, it was not all bad for me,” she wrote in her book Dolly: My Life and Other Unfinished Business. “Sylvester Stallone made me laugh at a time when I really needed it. I have found no therapy more effective than laughing, although in this case, there were probably less expensive ways to get it. I should point out that Sly Stallone is certifiably crazy. But he was a good kind of crazy, the kind I needed at that point in my life.”

Parton said Stallone was so full of life that it helped pull her out of a low point in her life.

Parton chewed Stallone out on set

Parton and Stallone were most at odds during a night shoot for Rhinestone. Parton noticed a man shivering in an alleyway.

“We were working all night, and it was that New York kind of damp cold. I noticed a man lying there next to some garbage, and he was shivering,” she wrote. “We had a big heater and blankets on the set. So I thought I’d go back there and get warm and put a heavy shawl I was wearing around this poor man. I didn’t realize anybody was watching.”

Stallone stopped her as she went to give the man her shawl. He snapped at Parton not to give it to him, as he could have made something of himself like they did.

“Well, you could have knocked me over with an angel feather,” she wrote. “I couldn’t believe what a man I considered a friend was saying. I grabbed the shawl back from him and wrapped it back around the man. Then I stood up right in Sly’s face and said, ‘Hey, look! That could have been you, you ungrateful son of a b****! Except by the grace of God. Who knows. It could be an angel sent to show you what an a** you really are. At least he’s one of God’s creatures, and that’s good enough for me.'”

She said Stallone seemed ashamed of his behavior.