Sylvester Stallone and Jennifer Flavin’s relationship was marred with a controversy that almost destroyed their future family. The Creed star had been previously married and divorced when he met Flavin, but even their age gap did not hinder their love for one another.
They first met in 1988 at a restaurant when Stallone was 42 and Flavin was only 19. After two years of dating, they made a public appearance at a Los Angeles event. Four years later, the unexpected happened: the famed action legend broke up with his then-girlfriend for unknown reasons.
Jennifer Flavin Was Shattered After Sylvester Stallone Broke Up With Her
Jennifer Flavin was wary of Sylvester Stallone’s habits as an adult man, though she believed he could not do such a thing given that they were together most of the week. When she received a letter from the actor in 1994, she was very shocked. In an interview with People, Flavin shared:
“He sent me a six-page handwritten letter, in pen. It was pretty sloppy. It hit me like a ton of bricks. 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.”
Stallone suspected that he fathered a child from model Janice Dickinson who just gave birth to a baby. He never bothered to tell Flavin the reason for dump ing her, but after Dickinson learned through DNA test that the father of her child was her ex-boyfriend, Michael Birnbaum, Stallone went back to Flavin.
“I was disappointed. You can’t just write somebody off in a letter after six years. It’s not like I was going to try to beg him to come back to me or anything. I just wanted to talk.”
They eventually reunited, and in 1996, she gave birth to Sophia Stallone. A year later, they made their wedding vows. At this point, it looked like a happy ending but it was not. In August 2022, Flavin filed for divorce due to irreconcilable differences.
They looked perfect together on camera, but little did fans know that they were already drifting apart. Stallone reportedly covered up his tattoo of Flavin’s face with the image of his Rottweiler dog. Apparently, his wife did not want any more dogs in the house. It caused a strain in their relationship.
Months later, they decided to halt their divorce proceedings and talk about the issue in private. They reconciled and tried to work out their differences.
The Truth About Sylvester Stallone’s Biceps Tattoo
In an interview with The Daily Mail, Sylvester Stallone’s publicist Michelle Bega debunked rumors of his arm tattoo and clarified that he did not intend to cover up Jennifer Flavin’s face.
“Mr. Stallone intended to refresh the tattoo image of his wife Jennifer; however, the results were unsatisfactory and, unfortunately, unfixable. As a result, he had to cover the original image with a tattoo of his dog from Rocky, Butkus.”
It must have been difficult for Stallone and Flavin to throw away their relationship given how long they have been together, but the most important thing is they managed to figure it out and find a way to make things work again.