Sylvester Stallone releases statement asking for ‘compassion’ after son’s death

Sylvester Stallone and son Sage. (Wireimage)Two days after his 36-year-old son Sage was found dead, Sylvester Stallone released a statement to the public asking for sensitivity. "When a parent loses a child there is no greater pain. 

Therefore I am imploring people to respect my talented son's memory and feel compassion for his loving mother Sasha," the 66-year-old actor told TMZ Sunday night. 

"This agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives," 

Stallone said. "Sage was our first child and the center of our universe and I am humbly begging for all to have my son's memory and soul left in peace."

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He also called for an end to "the speculation and questionable reporting" surrounding Sage's death. 

Reports circulating on Friday and over the weekend had blamed his death on prescription pills, speculated suicide, and had stated that he been dead anywhere from three to seven days prior to his body being discovered in his Los Angeles area home by a housekeeper on July 13, though initial reports said the police had been called to do a welfare check after Sage had not been heard from for some time.

Sage with his parents, dad Stallone and mom Sasha Czack. (Willi Schneider/Rex/Rex USA)

An autopsy was conducted on Sunday, but the outcome will not be released until the results of the toxicology tests are received.

"We don't know what the circumstances are around it," Sage's attorney George Braunstein told NBC Los Angeles on Sunday. "He was in good health, great spirits. He was thinking of getting married, working on a lot of film projects."

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The identity of the girlfriend attorney Braunstein is referring to is not known, but Sage was previously married to a woman named Starlin Wright. The marriage ended in 2008 after a year.

Sage — who played the son of his dad's iconic character, Rocky Balboa, in the 1990 film "Rocky V" — was Stallone's eldest son and one of two children he had with first wife Sasha Czack, whom he split with in 1985 after 11 years of marriage. Stallone went on to have three daughters with his current wife, Jennifer Flavin.

Just a day prior to learning the devastating news, Stallone had participated in a buzzed-about panel to promote his upcoming action sequel "Expendables 2" at San Diego's popular Comic-Con convention on Thursday. He and co-star Arnold Schwarzenegger received standing ovations upon arriving, exchanged jokes, and reminisced about their first meeting over 30 years ago.