Understandably, Sage’s father Sylvester Stallone was outraged about all the press speculation, telling CNN, “I am imploring people to respect my wonderfully talented son’s memory and feel compassion for his loving mother, Sasha [Czack], because this agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives.

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.”

Following a funeral at St. Martin of Tours Catholic Church in Los Angeles a week later, Sage was laid to rest at the city’s

After weeks of speculation, a Los Angeles County coroner confirmed exactly what caused the sudden death of actor-turned-producer Sage Stallone. And contrary to all the media speculation, prescription drugs didn’t play a part.

Toxicology tests proved that there was only a tiny amount of prescription Vicodin in Sage’s body at the time of his passing, a level described as “sub-therapeutic.”

Instead, the coroner discovered that atherosclerosis, a major cause of heart disease in which the arteries are blocked with plaque, was responsible. 4According to his family, the “Daylight” star had been a heavy chain smoker for much of his life, although he’d made an effort to try and reduce his habit before his passing.

This wasn’t the first time that a celebrity’s death had been wrongly attributed to drugs. Both Brittany Murphy and Corey Haim were initially said to have died because of various substances before their coroner’s reports proved otherwise.

Far from the troubled soul some media outlets purported at the time of his tragic death, in truth, Sage Stallone was loving life in the months before his passing.

That’s according to Mark Berry, a photographer who worked with the eldest Stallone on a shoot in May 2012.

Speaking to Radar Online, Berry, who was working for Girls and Corpses magazine at the time, claimed that Stallone was a picture of happiness before suddenly passing away: “I saw nothing to suggest that he was in a suicidal mood.

He was telling me about how he wanted to shoot a film, he seemed hopeful for the future and making work plans.”

Berry did, however, argue that there was some evidence of prescription drug use: “My impression was that he was a very talented character who seemed under the influence of a pharmaceutical medication, he wasn’t a wreck but he was just a little spaced out.

I wasn’t entirely shocked when I heard [of his death], my initial thought was that he had an accidental overdose, or that his body just packed up.”

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Just a few weeks before his tragic death, Sage Stallone underwent major dental surgery to extract five teeth. And he went against the wishes of his closest family member — his mother, Sasha Czack —by doing so.

In her first statement since losing her eldest son, Sasha Czack explained to the New York Post that she’d pleaded with Sage to space out his treatment instead of doing everything in one go: “I told him not to do that.

I’ve heard about people dying having multiple procedures done to your mouth. Do not have more than one tooth [pulled].”

Czack, who divorced Sage’s father Sylvester Stallone in 1985 after 11 years of marriage, also revealed that her son had been suffering from severe pain following the surgery.

After being asked whether he’d been taking painkillers for the ordeal, she replied, “Wouldn’t you be?”

Sage Stallone engaged to be married

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One of the most surprising revelations that emerged in the wake of Sage Stallone’s death was the claim that he was just days away from walking down the aisle.

According to his lawyer and close pal George Braunstein, the “Rocky V” star was all set to get wed in Las Vegas, Nevada the following weekend.

Braunstein, who also told People that the bottles found in Sage’s room weren’t of the alcoholic variety, but simply contained soda, said that his friend planned to get married on the spur of the moment.

But the lawyer, who’d known the film producer for 15 years, didn’t give any details about the identity of the woman he wanted to exchange vows with.

No doubt that she was a lover of films, though. Referring to her grandson in a 1996 interview with People, Jackie Stallone said, “He’s got all the compassion in the world.

He says, ‘Grandma, I don’t want the kind of girls my father likes. I just want a girl who will sit and watch movies with me.’ He’ll find her.”