The actor’s wife of nearly 27 years said on Wednesday’s ‘The Family Stallone’ season 2 premiere that she needed to “change it up” after their marriage hit a rough patch
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The Stallone family plans on making moves — literally.
On Wednesday’s premiere of The Family Stallone season 2, Sylvester Stallone informed his daughters Scarlet, Sistine and Sophia of a big decision he and wife Jennifer Flavin Stallone made.
“After long, hard consideration, your mother and I have decided, time to move on and leave the state of California permanently, and we’re going to go to Florida,” Sylvester, 77, announced.
Jennifer, 55, explained to her daughters, “It’s an empty nest. I need to change it up.”
Jennifer and Sly became empty nesters after Sophia, 27, and Sistine, 25, moved in together in New York City and Scarlet, 21, headed off to college at the University of Miami.
“I raised all three of our daughters in California. Everything’s a memory to me, memories of them not being there anymore,” Jennifer said in a confessional interview. “So I needed a big change, and Sly went along with it.”
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The decision to move to Florida came following the reconciling of Sylvester and Jennifer, who tied the knot in May 1997, after she filed for divorce in August 2022.
One month later, a Florida court filing stated that Sly and Jennifer decided to “resolve all issues attendant to the dissolution of their marriage in a dignified, amicable and private manner out-of-court.”
A source reiterated to PEOPLE at the time that the couple chose to “work out their differences.”
The Rambo actor admitted on Wednesday’s episode that he didn’t love the idea of relocating. “We have a lot of roots in California, so it’s not an easy transition to Florida,” he said in a confessional. “But Jennifer really had her heart set on it. I gave in.”
Sistine referred to the move as “a great idea,” but Scarlet felt differently. Scarlet later told Jennifer that she eventually saw herself raising her own kids in the house where she grew up.
“I actually wanted to take over this house after you guys to raise my family,” Scarlet said.
Later in the episode, Sylvester met up with his Lords of Flatbush costars Jon Lovitz and Henry Winkler for what he called “my true farewell.”
“The thing is, I don’t want to shake things up, but I know my wife wants big adventure,” Sly told his former costars.
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Reuniting with some of his first Hollywood costars brought up memories of his early days on the west coast for Sly.
“It’s not easy for me to leave California,” the New York City native said. “That’s where I got my start, that’s where I got my break.”
Back home in bed, the Rocky star wondered “whether it’s the right move” to leave California for Florida.
“This has great ramifications,” Sly said to Jennifer. “Let’s say it doesn’t work out, now what? The house that we love that, we had built, gone.”
Jennifer had a positive outlook about the change. “We can make new memories, new beginnings,” she assured the three-time Oscar nominee.
Sly committed to trying out life in Florida for Jennifer’s sake, telling the cameras, “No matter how I’m feeling, I owe it to Jen to go through this move.”