SYLVESTER Stallone sparked rumours his marriage is on the ropes – by getting a tattoo of his wife covered with Butkus the dog from Rocky.
The Hollywood veteran, 76, has been married to Jennifer Flavin for 25 years but last week she posted a cryptic photo with their daughters saying “the four of us forever”.
Ex-model Jennifer, 54, has also reportedly stopped following Sylvester on Instagram.
Sly used to have a large colour portrait of Jennifer inked over his right shoulder, framed by red roses.
He was showing it off on Instagram as recently as August 7.
But just nine days later on August 16 a new post by tattoo artist Zach Perez showed him covering it with the bull mastiff.
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That came after Jennifer’s pointed post on August 10, showing her embracing daughters Sophia, 25, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet, 20.
She captioned it: “These girls are my priority, nothing else matters. The four of us forever. #truth #family #forever.”
Last night Stallone’s publicist Michelle Bega denied any problems in the marriage, according to DailyMail.com.
She said: “Mr Stallone intended to refresh the tattoo image of his wife Jennifer however the results were unsatisfactory and, unfortunately, unfixable.
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“As a result, he had to cover the original image with a tattoo of his dog from Rocky, Butkus.
“Mr Stallone loves his family. The Stallones are presently filming a reality show together which will debut on Paramount+.”
She reportedly declined to comment further.
Rocky patch
Sly and Jennifer’s marriage had been viewed as one of the strongest in showbusiness.
She was just 19 when she met the twice-divorced star – then aged 42 – at a Beverly Hills restaurant in 1988.
They dated for six years before splitting in 1994 when he reportedly broke up with her by post.
At the time Jennifer told People magazine: “He sent me a six-page handwritten letter. It was pretty sloppy.”
She later found out he had been having an affair with model Janice Dickinson.
Sylvester then dated 22-year-old model Andrea Wieser, and was hit by accusations from Richard Gere he was trying to romance his wife Cindy Crawford.
He also became briefly engaged to 25-year-old Sports Illustrated model Angie Everhart.
However, Jennifer and Sylvester reconciled in 1995, before tying the knot in London in 1997.
Their three daughters have followed them into celebrity life, pursuing careers in modelling, acting and podcasting.
Sly also had two sons from his previous marriage to Sasha Czack.
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Sage died from heart disease in 2012 aged 36, and his brother Seargeoh is now 43.
Seargeoh appeared in Rocky II as the boxer’s newborn son Rocky Balboa Jr, and was diagnosed with autism aged three.
