Rambo's hardest mission .. Saving his 3 girls from perils of showbiz

By Beth Neil 

Sly with Jennifer and their daughters (Pic:Getty Images)

As hardman John Rambo or big-hearted boxer Rocky Balboa, Sylvester Stallone is used to tackling situations not for the fainthearted. But away from the big screen, the - Hollywood action man is facing his toughest challenge yet - bringing up three young daughters.

Today's celebrity culture horrifies him. And he's determined his girls - Sophia, 11, Sistene, nine and five-year-old Scarlet - will stay on the straight and narrow. The Stallone daughters won't be heading down the Britney route. Not if daddy has anything to do with it.

Speaking exclusively to the Mirror before last night's London premiere of the fourth Rambo movie, he says: "I am good to my girls but it's tough love because I know it's a tough world. "It terrifies me because I know that their name will make them a target. I've seen it so many times. Look at these young celebrities... they get hammered, living under a microscope. "I've been saying this since the day they were born - listen to your mother and father. But as they get older and the hormones start to kick in, they might get like, 'You don't know everything, Dad!' And I'll just say: 'Oh, yes I do!' . "I can't stop them going into the entertainment industry, but I can toughen them up."

Stallone has taken his daughters to the seedy streets of New York's Hell's Kitchen where he was born into poverty, a world away from the lavish LA lifestyle they enjoy today. He says: "The only thing I really ask of them is that they're nice to people who don't have it as good. I've taken them back to my old neighbourhood and shown them kids their own age drinking dry cleaning fluid, hustling and doing drugs.

"I could teach them about real life by throwing them out of the house with $5 and telling them to give me a call in a week. But I'm certainly not going to do that, so I have to find other ways to make them sympathetic and understanding. But the biggest asset they have in their lives is their mother. She's the perfect role model."

Their mother is Jennifer Flavin, Stallone's wife of nearly 11 years and the woman he clearly adores. "She's so beautiful, but looks in the mirror and sees someone very plain. She's just a good person. Hopefully, not too many Stallone genes got into the daughters. Fingers crossed they got Flavin genes!"

Stallone is seated on a plush sofa at London's Dorchester Hotel, dressed down in jeans and a fitted black T-shirt which shows off his bulging biceps.

And at 61, he could easily pass for a man 15 years younger. His body defies belief. "How old do I feel? About 250 years old!" he jokes. "My goal at 65 was to weigh about 200 kilos, be an alcoholic, dying of an overdose of sugar. God, I'd love that! But it's not my lot in life."

He lets out a hearty belly laugh. "Seriously? I probably feel about 48 or 50. I definitely don't feel 61. It takes a little while to start up the engine in the morning, but once I'm warmed up, off I go. "The gym has been my salvation. It's like my church. I let it go for a while but now I'm on a mission. I want to see how far I can push it. Age is a mathematical equation towards becoming more and more decrepit. But you can absolutely slow it down with exercise." Mrs Stallone, a former model, runs her own cosmetics business and tends to shy away from the limelight.

Her independence is one of the qualities Sly finds so attractive. "I get to go to Europe and meet all these fascinating people and she's working in a mall in Tampa. But that's why I love her. She's never had an agenda and she's always earned her own money. "I miss her and the girls so much when we're apart. I was reading an interview with Daniel Day-Lewis and he was saying he loves to stay home and take walks with his kids. I totally get that."

Since Rocky scooped the Best Picture Oscar back in 1977, Stallone can command up to £10million a movie. And despite a couple of flops during a rather lean period in the 90s, he's managed to create, with Rocky and Rambo, two iconic film characters who will go down in Hollywood legend. Last year's revival of Rocky was very well-received. He's won hard-earned respect as an actor, writer and director and certainly doesn't need to work.

"Rocky and Rambo were very important to me," he says. "I didn't want to go out feeling disappointment. I knew I hadn't done my best on the last ones. But now I can say farewell and be satisfied because both characters have come to fruition."

This latest, and final, Rambo movie is the one Stallone claims to be most proud of. Twenty years after the last instalment, we find our man in Thailand, reluctantly drawn into the Burmese conflict where torture, rape, mutilation and mass executions are commonplace. The film has received mixed reviews Stateside where some critics accused it of gratuitous violence. Stallone hits back. "THAT'S the horror of war," he says. "I want people to be repulsed.

"I did a lot of research and I saw the aftermath of some of the extraordinary violence. Do you make a whitewash of a film? Or do you try and show what civil war is really like? This film is the most honest I could have made it."

War, he says, is inevitable. "It's depressing yet we can't change anything," he says with a sigh. "War may be natural. Peace may be an accident. Give me one hour where the world's been totally at peace."

His daughters have seen clips from their dad's films, but Stallone is conscious they don't get too blase about the blood and guts. "I'm worried they're getting a little immune to violence," he says. "They'll sneak in and watch some of the Rambo and tut, 'Oh, another head cut off?'

"But it's important to me they're aware of what's going on around the world. I want them to learn about finances and politics. They should know the differences between the Democrats and Republicans, they should know what Communism is."

He readily admits that he sees the girls as his second chance at fatherhood.

After his first marriage to Sasha Czack broke up in 1985 he barely saw his sons Sage and Seth, although they have a good relationship now. "There's no question that this is a second chance for me," says Stallone. "First time round I was a virtual stranger. The girls own me. They're everything.

"You know what? Girls cry a lot. It's a way to manipulate daddy. 'You don't love me any more. You bought her this. How come her room is prettier than mine?' Oh my God, they kill me!"

And with that, he's on his way back to LA today in time for Valentine's Day with his wife. "I get in at 1am so I'm gonna get home and fly up those stairs to see her!"

Questions and tasks:

1. Do you think it’s hard being a celebrity? Why (not)?

2. What professions can make you a celebrity?

3. Most celebrities soon get spoiled by the amount of money they have. Why do you it happens?

4. Sometimes famous parents don’t want their kids to follow in their steps. Why don’t they give their offsprings a freedom of choice?

5. Would you like to be a celebrity? If you were a celebrity, whose lfe would you like to lead?