Photos have emerged showing Jennifer Flavin without her wedding ring – taken more than a week before she filed for divorce from Sylvester Stallone.
The shots come as Stallone, 76, denied rumors that the 25-year marriage ended after an argument about getting a new Rottweiler unearthed deeper issues. Instead, he told TMZ he and his 54-year-old wife ‘just went in different directions.’
‘We did not end the relationship on such a trivial argument,’ he said.
Flavin – who officially filed for divorce on August 19 – was snapped leaving Craig’s Restaurant in Los Angeles on August 8 with her ring finger noticeably bare.
Witnesses said she was was trying not to be recognized as she left, and that a friend was covering her with her jacket as they walked out.
Flavin wore a white silk blouse tucked into a pair of khaki pants, carried a matching white handbag, and wore a gold bracelet over her wrist.
Photos have emerged showing Jennifer Flavin without her wedding ring taken more than a week before she filed for divorce from Sylvester Stallone
The shots come as Stallone, 76, denied rumors that the 25-year marriage ended after an argument about Rottweiler unearthed deeper issues, and instead told TMZ he and his 54-year-old wife ‘just went in different directions.’
Exactly what led to the divorce remains unclear. Early rumors from a TMZ source said things fell suddenly apart when the couple argued over a Rottweiler protection dog Stallone wanted but Flavin didn’t.
Sly has since denied that claim.
The source said that argument exposed underlying issues in the marriage and led to the divorce filing.
Those rumors were exacerbated by photos showing Stallone replacing a tattoo on his shoulder of Flavin’s face with an image of his old dog, a bull mastiff named Butkus.
Earlier this week, Stallone’s publicist insisted that all is well and Sly had wanted to update the tattoo of his wife – but it went wrong and was ‘unfixable’.
‘Mr. Stallone intended to refresh the tattoo image of his wife Jennifer however the results were unsatisfactory and, unfortunately, unfixable,’ she said, ‘As a result, he had to cover the original image with a tattoo of his dog from Rocky, Butkus.’
Stallone himself also denied rumors about Rottweiler argument, telling TMZ that he still loves and respects his soon-to-be ex-wife.
‘I have the highest respect for Jennifer. I will always love her. She’s an amazing woman. She’s the nicest human being I’ve ever met.’
He also noted that he still has a tattoo of Flavin on his back.
Stallone reiterated those comments in a statement to DailyMail.com, saying ‘I love my family. We are amicably and privately addressing these personal issues.’
Flavin – who officially filed for divorce on August 19 – was snapped leaving Craigs Restaurant in Los Angeles on August 8 with her ring finger noticeably bare
Flavin wore a white silk blouse tucked into a pair of khaki pants, carried a matching white handbag, and wore a gold bracelet over her wrist
Flavin seemed to hint that something was amiss in a cryptic Instagram picture of her hugging their three daughters.
‘These girls are my priority. Nothing else matters,’ she captioned the post, ‘The 4 of us forever.’
According to divorce documents obtained by DailyMail.com, she claims Stallone ‘has engaged in the intentional dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets which has had an adverse economic impact on the marital estate.
‘Moreover, the Husband should be enjoined from, selling, transferring, assigning, encumbering, or dissipating any assets during the pendency of proceedings.’
Flavin said in divorce docs, ‘The marriage between the parties is irretrievably broken.’
BEFORE AND AFTER: Stallone had a huge tattoo of Flavin’s face on his right bicep which was covered up with a photo of his dog Butkus
Flavin hinted that it might all be over in an Instagram picture of her hugging their three daughters on August 10. ‘These girls are my priority,’ she wrote on the post. ‘Nothing else matters. The 4 of us forever’
Stallone’s marriage to Flavin – his third – had appeared to be one of the strongest in Hollywood until, even though the couple’s romance had a rocky start.
They first dated in 1988 shortly after his brief second marriage to Brigitte Nielsen had gone south.
They had met in a Beverly Hills restaurant when she was a 20-year-old model and he was suffering a temporary glitch with Rambo III – a movie that won him the Golden Raspberry for worst actor.
But he then moved on to model Janice Dickinson who said he was the father of her little girl. He ended things with Flavin by sending her a letter by FedEx, which she called ‘sloppy.’
It was only after he and Dickinson split that DNA tests proved he was not the dad.
He then got engaged to actress Angie Everhart but that fizzled and he again returned to Flavin.
They married on May 17, 1997 at the posh Dorchester Hotel in London, and with Stallone’s reputation as a playboy, few predicted they would last long.