Though some speculate Sage Stallone, the filmmaker son of actor Sylvester Stallone, died from an apparent drug overdose Friday, those close to the 36-year-old, including his attorney, insist that couldn't be further from the truth.
"I never knew him to drink alcohol," Sage's lawyer and friend George Braunstein told E! News Saturday, just hours after Sage was found dead by his housekeeper in his Los Angeles home. "I think it was either natural causes or a terrible accident. I don't think it had anything to do with drugs, he wasn't that kind of guy. He wasn't anyone trying to take his life."
Assistant Chief Coroner Ed Winter confirmed that prescription bottles were found at the scene where Sage passed, but he would not confirm what was in the bottles or if they contributed to his death, KNBC reports. However, Braunstein tells E! that when Sage's mother, Sasha Czack, went to ID her son's body at his home, "The only bottles she found were a bunch of empty Doc Brown's Cream Soda."
TMZ reports that Sage "lived like" the reclusive Hollywood mogul Howard Hughes and often spent days alone in his room, which was littered with cigarette butts, beer cans and food and the time of his death.
As the investigation into Sage's death continues, Braunstein says his family is struggling to come to terms with his unexpected passing. "His mother is devastated. They're trying to sort everything out and plan a funeral. [Sylvester] called, he's upset too," the lawyer said. "They may be celebs, but they're regular parents. It's tragic."
Making his big-screen debut as a teen in 1990's Rocky V, playing Rocky Balboa's son, Robert, Sage made his directorial debut with Vic, which was shown at the Palm Springs Film Festival in 2006. He is survived by his parents, one brother and three half-sisters.
