Stallone finally speaks…

Talk about awkward timing! It’s been just a month since Sylvester Stallone was hit with the tragic death of his 36-year-old son Sage, and he’d probably prefer to stay out of the spotlight and do his mourning in private a bit longer.

But when you’re a superstar with a big movie opening on Friday, you have to hit the talk show circuit to promote your film. That’s what Stallone was doing Wednesday night, appearing on “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” to hype “The Expendables 2.”

Leno wasted no time broaching the subject of the younger Stallone’s death, making his first question, “I know this is not an easy time for you. Does it help to be busy out promoting the movie?”

Stallone answered. “Yeah, when life hits you pretty hard you can either just go into a dark corner or you say, OK, fine, I’m going to try to find something to focus on. And you have your children and you have your wife and you just try to be supportive of other people too because I know a lot of people go through it that don’t get the attention like I do. And I feel for them because it’s one club that no one ever wants to be a member of.

“But I think about [Sage’s] memories, a lovely boy, and I will always cherish that.”

The action sequel “The Expendables 2” also stars Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jean-Claude Van Damme.