Arnold Schwarzenegger reveals how ‘nasty' feud with Sylvester Stallone finally ended: ‘We hated each other'

New York Post

19-06-2025

Battle of the alphas.
Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone had an infamous years-long feud as two of the biggest action movie stars in the 1990s that, according to Schwarzenegger, got resolved thanks to a business venture with Planet Hollywood.
'We hated each other,' Schwarzenegger, 77, recalled on Andy Cohen's SiriusXM radio show this week.
11 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone at the premiere of 'Rambo' in 2008.
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11 Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger attend the 'Escape Plan' red carpet premiere in 2013.
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'We were kind of attacking each other and doing nasty things and saying nasty things about each other and all these stupid things,' the 'Terminator' said.
'All of a sudden,' Schwarzenegger continued, 'I started working with Robert Earl and Keith Parish to create the Planet Hollywood franchise, those restaurants. The next thing I know is I get a phone call from my lawyer, who was also Sly's lawyer, he said, 'Arnold, is there any kind of room for Sly in Planet Hollywood?' '
11 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Andy Cohen.
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11 Arnold Schwarzenegger on Sirius XM's 'Radio Andy.'
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11 Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger at Spike TV's 4th Annual 'Guys Choice Awards' in 2010.
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Schwarzenegger recalled thinking that getting Sylvester, 78, involved in the endeavor was 'actually a good idea, because it could bring us together.'
'And I wanted that,' the 'Fubar' star stated. 'At that point I had grown out of my craziness.'
11 Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger at 'The Expendables' screening at Planet Hollywood in Las Vegas in 2010.
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'Sure enough, we made it work,' Schwarzenegger said. 'And Bruce Willis became part of Planet Hollywood, Whoopi Goldberg became part of Planet Hollywood, Chuck Norris. It really was kind of an international cast.'
Planet Hollywood launched in New York City in 1991 with the backing of A-listers including Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis, Demi Moore and others.
Schwarzenegger and Stallone — who worked together on the 'Expendables' movies and 2013's 'Escape Plan' after making up — have been open about the context of their feud.
11 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone arrive at the premiere of 'Terminator Genisys' in 2015.
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11 Arnold Schwarzenegger, Sylvester Stallone in 'Escape Plan.'
Summit Entertainment/courtesy Everett Collection
11 Sylvester Stallone, Arnold Schwarzenegger in 'The Expendables 3' in 2014.
©Lions Gate/Courtesy Everett Collection
'We were movie rivals, but we took the competitiveness to the extreme — we each had to have the best body, we had to kill more people in our films, and we had to have the biggest guns,' Schwarzenegger said on 'The Graham Norton Show' in Oct. 2023.
'It got out of control, and we tried to derail each other,' the 'True Lies' star continued, explaining that after the pair invested in Planet Hollywood they 'became fantastic friends' and 'are now inseparable.'
11 Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger presenting on stage at the 2013 Golden Globe Awards.
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When the actors did a joint interview for a 2024 TMZ special titled 'Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons,' Stallone admitted that he viewed Schwarzenegger as 'competition' and 'a threat' when he burst onto the movie scene.
11 Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone at the '2002 World Stunt Awards.'
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'As soon as I saw him, it was like bang, two alphas hitting,' said Stallone.
'There's no two ways about that,' added Schwarzenegger. 'He was very helpful in my career because I had something that I could chase.'