A ‘Rocky’ Relationship: A Timeline of Sylvester Stallone’s Marriage to Jennifer Flavin
© Sputnik / Екатерина Чеснокова
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Sylvester Stallone’s wife Jennifer Flavin announced that she is filing for divorce from her husband of 25 years. The couple shares three daughters together: Scarlet, 20, Sistine, 24, and Sophia, 25.
Jennifer Flavin, the 54-year-old American model and businesswoman, announced her divorce from the “Rocky” actor Sylvester Stallone, 76, through People magazine on Wednesday.
"I'm sad to announce that after 25 years of marriage I have filed for divorce from my husband Sylvester Stallone. While we will no longer be married, I will always cherish the more than 30-year relationship that we shared, and I know we are both committed to our beautiful daughters," Flavin told the news source.
"I ask for privacy for our family as we amicably move forward," said the businesswoman/model, who filed a petition “for dissolution of marriage and other relief” from Stallone in Palm Beach County, Florida.
24 August 2022, 19:02 GMT
The couple’s relationship had seen its fair share of rocky moments over the years. The couple first met in 1988 when Flavin was 19 years old and was just starting to model. Stallone was in his early 40s, at the height of his career, and had already been married to Sasha Czack and Brigitte Nielsen. Stallone had two children with Czack: Sage and Seargeoh. Sage died in 2012 at the age of 36 due to a heart attack.
About six years into their relationship, Stallone sent Flavin a handwritten letter, which the model referred to as “sloppy” in 1994, through Federal Express to break up with her.
“I was disappointed. You can’t just write somebody off in a letter after six years,” Flavin said of the letter. “It’s not like I was going to try to beg him to come back to me or anything. I just wanted to talk.”
Flavin later found out through her modeling agent at Elite that Stallone had been having an affair with supermodel Janice Dickinson, now 65, and that Dickinson was pregnant with what was suspected to be Stallone’s daughter.
"It hit me like a ton of bricks," Flavin told People at the time. "I had no idea this was going to happen. We talked about us having children, about when I was going to get pregnant. We were already picking names, marking down names that he liked and I liked."
Shortly after the affair was revealed, Dickinson gave birth to a baby girl named Savannah. The baby was believed to belong to Stallone. Dickinson was dating film producer Michael Birnbaum at the time while also having an affair with Stallone and another artist. Dickinson wrote in her 2002 autobiography “No Lifeguard On Duty” that at the time she had “felt” that the baby belonged to Stallone.
Following that news, Stallone called it quits with his then-girlfriend of six years, Flavin, and began helping Dickinson with the baby and her career. The two were engaged during that time for six months. After a Versace show where Dickinson was working, she went back to her hotel room where Stallone told Dickinson that he had discovered through a paternity test that Savannah did not belong to him.
"'She's not mine. I just heard from the DNA lab in Long Beach. Savannah's not mine. Send my regards to Mr. Birnbaum' - and with that, he stood up," Dickinson said.
In 1995, Flavin took Stallone back, and a year later on August 27, 1996, they welcomed their first child Sophia in Miami, Florida, whom Flavin has described as similar to Stallone and as “the love of his life.”
In 1997, the couple officially tied the knot in a civil ceremony at The Dorchester Hotel in London, and a chapel ceremony at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire in which only a dozen close friends and family were in attendance.
“I'm not naïve about what may go on when I'm not around – he's a 45-year-old man – I can't change the way he is,” she said when asked at the time about Stallone’s adulterous behavior.
“Still, he's not a cheating dog every day of the week. We spend five out of seven nights together, so I don't know where he'd find the time,” she added.
In 1998, the couple welcomed their daughter Sistine, and in 2002, they welcomed their daughter Scarlet.
“It took me 19 years to realize she's always right. I realized that women have a knack, at least Jennifer, for making incredibly erudite, wise, smart decisions. I always leap without looking. She always looks and never leaps,” Stallone said in an interview from 2010.
“She's incredibly safe. So now finally, I say: ‘Honey, you make all the decisions. Done, done, done. I trust you.’ I never had that before. Ever,” he added.
Just three months before Flavin announced her intention to divorce Stallone, the couple had celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with seemingly adoring posts on Instagram.
"Happy 25th anniversary to my amazing wife," Stallone wrote in his Instagram caption. "There is not enough words to describe what this incredibly selfless dedicated, patient, woman has meant to our lives and I only wish they could be another 25! Thank you sweetheart!"
Flavin shared her own Instagram post celebrating the couple’s anniversary, which she has since deleted. The post read: “Happy 25th wedding anniversary to us! Thank you for always keeping me laughing, loving and protecting our beautiful family! Our marriage keeps getting better every year! I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together!"
Earlier this month, Flavin then shared a photo to the social media site of her and the couple’s three daughters. She wrote: “These girls are my priority. Nothing else matters. The 4 of us forever #truth #family #forever." Flavin seems to have support form her daughters Sistine and Sophia, who wrote in the comment section, “strongest woman I know” and “You are our rock, cheerleader, and most incredible mom. We are so lucky to have you. Love you so much,” respectively.
