Sylvester Stallone has reignited one of Hollywood's oldest feuds with the publication of his new memoir 'The Steps,' offering his own account of how a 1974 on-set clash with Richard Gere spiraled into a decades-long rivalry — one that nearly came to blows over Princess Diana.
It has been known for decades that Stallone and Gere are not friends, and that the bad blood stems from their time working on the 1974 drama 'The Lords of Flatbush.' According to Stallone's memoir, the trouble began during a heated audition process between the two actors and escalated once filming started. In one infamous incident, Stallone says Gere grabbed his T-shirt during an improvisation, leaving him increasingly frustrated.
The situation later exploded during a lunch break on set. Stallone writes that Gere was eating chicken in a parked car when grease spilled onto his leg despite a warning. According to Stallone's account, he elbowed Gere, pulled him from the car, and confronted him before director Stephen Verona stepped between them. The director ultimately decided that one of the actors had to leave — and Gere was fired from the production, replaced by Perry King. Robert De Niro also left the project for another production.
The feud might have faded into film-trivia obscurity had it not resurfaced years later in spectacular fashion. Elton John wrote in his 2019 memoir 'Me' that he once invited both actors and the British royal to a dinner party in the 1990s, where the two nearly came to a fistfight over Princess Diana. John noted that the Princess seemed 'taken with' Gere, the 'Pretty Woman' star, and made clear both men were single at the time — Diana was separated from the now-King Charles, and Gere had broken up with Cindy Crawford, to whom he was married from 1991 to 1995.
According to John, Stallone took issue with the royal and the actor 'sitting in front of the fireplace together, locked in rapt conversation.' John's husband, David Furnish, was the one who found Stallone and Gere ready to fight in the hallway — the two were 'apparently about to settle their differences over Diana by having a fistfight.' Stallone instead decided to leave the party, while Gere returned to charming Princess Diana. John quoted Stallone as allegedly saying: 'I never would have come if I'd known Prince f---in' Charming was gonna be here. If I'd wanted her, I would've taken her!' Diana herself, John wrote, appeared unbothered — either because she didn't realize what was happening or because 'maybe stuff like that happened all the time.'
The party reportedly took place in 1994, while John was working on songs for 'The Lion King.' Stallone and Princess Diana had met before, notably at a 1993 Barnardo's charity event. With Stallone's memoir now bringing fresh details back into the spotlight, one of Hollywood's most enduring celebrity disputes has returned to the conversation more than 50 years after it began.