Arnold Schwarzenegger Reveals How He and Sylvester Stallone Ended Feud After ‘Doing Nasty Things’ to Each Other

Arnold Schwarzenegger is recalling his past feud with Sylvester Stallone.

“We hated each other,” the actor-politician, 77, told Andy Cohen on SiriusXM’s Radio Andy.

Schwarzenegger and Stallone, 78, famously butted heads throughout the 1980s as they emerged as action movie stars. They’ve since become friends, starring together in 2013’s Escape Plan and several installments of The Expendables franchise. 

“We were kind of attacking each other and doing nasty things and saying nasty things about each other and all these stupid things,” recalled the Fubar star. Their reconciliation, he added, began with an unexpected business venture. 

“All of a sudden, I started working with Robert Earl and Keith Parish to create the Planet Hollywood franchise, those restaurants,” explained Schwarzenegger. “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?’ ”

Upon reflection, he recalled thinking, “That’s actually a good idea, because it could bring us together. And I wanted that. At that point I had grown out of my craziness.”

The Planet Hollywood restaurant chain was launched in New York City in 1991 with the backing of Schwarzenegger, Stallone and several other A-listers.

“Sure enough, we made it work,” said the Terminator star of collaborating with Stallone. “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.”

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In the years since the action stars’ infamous feud, both have looked back on the experience with new eyes. In a joint interview for TMZ Presents: Arnold & Sly: Rivals, Friends, Icons that aired in April 2024, Stallone admitted that when Schwarzenegger burst onto the scene, he reacted by thinking, “Finally, something to motivate me. Because he is, dare I say it, competition, a threat, whatever word you wanna use. As soon as I saw him, it was like bang, two alphas hitting.”

“There’s no two ways about that: He was very helpful in my career because I had something that I could chase,” agreed Schwarzenegger.

Season 2 of Schwarzenegger’s action comedy Fubar premiered on Netflix on June 12. Among his upcoming projects is the holiday movie The Man with the Bag, in which he’ll play Santa Claus.