Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger's 20-year feud was 'life and death'

Sylvester Stallone is opening up about the extent of his feud with Arnold Schwarzenegger, which lasted over two decades.

Although some believe it may have been exaggerated for the cameras, the Rocky star confirmed that is definitely was not.

It all began at the 1977 Golden Globes, when Sly was nominated for a number of individual roles which he missed out on, although won Best Picture, with Rocky.

At the time, the two weren't so familiar with each other, with Sly claiming the The Running Man star was 'gloating'.

So when Stallone went up to accept the award, he told Variety he 'grabbed a giant bowl of flowers and heaved it in [Schwarzenegger's] direction,' which began their '10-year battle royal'.

Following on from that, the pair fiercely competed for the same roles during the peak of their careers.

Now, Sly's looking back, comparing their feud to Elon Musk's dispute with Tesla.

“You see that when he was going against Tesla, there’s a ferocity there. A mortal enemy," he told the Sunday Times, before reflected on their infamous feud - describing it as 'life and death'.

The pair have well and truly buried their feud (Photo by Eric Robert/Sygma/Sygma via Getty Images)

“I was the same with [Arnold] Schwarzenegger. We were at each other’s throats, big time. It wasn’t a joke. It was like life and death. We should have been together in the Roman Colosseum," Stallone said.

“It’s like when one fighter insults the other, he’s going to train so much to put a beating on the other. We needed each other, absolutely.”

It's not the first time Stallone has spoken about the extremity. Back in 2022, the 80-year-old admitted that the pair 'couldn't stand to be in the same galaxy' as each other for a while.

However, after all this, the pair now have a great relationship - starting from when they unexpectedly teamed up to create the Planet Hollywood franchise.

Schwarzenegger said by that time he had 'grown out of my craziness' and thought it would be a great idea when their joint lawyers bought up the idea.

Later down the line, the pair went on to star in four films from The Expendables franchise together.

Not only that, Stallone also appeared in the 2023 Netflix documentary Arnold, in which he said the actor was 'superior,' adding that he 'had all the answers'.

Stallone and Schwarzenegger were both stakeholders in Planet Hollywood (Photo by Vinnie Zuffante/Getty Images)

What has Schwarzenegger said about his feud with Stallone?

Last year, The Terminator star appeared on Andy Cohen’s SiriusXM radio show, in which he said the pair 'really hated each other'.

“We were kind of attacking each other and doing nasty things and saying nasty things about each other and all these stupid things,” the star reflected, before explaining how their 'joint venture' in the restaurant chain Planet Hollywood came about.

They weren't the only A-Listers to get involved, with other huge names such as Bruce Willis and Demi Moore also being original celebrity investors and the public faces of the chain when it first opened in 1991.

Schwarzenegger went on to sell his ownership interest in the restaurant in 2000.