Everybody messes up sometimes, even Academy Award-nominated actors. Sylvester Stallone addressed the recent, short split from his wife Jennifer Flavin in a new interview with The Hollywood Reporter, published on Monday, November 7. Even though the Tulsa King star, 76, admitted to making a “tragic mistake,” he vowed not to make the same mistake twice.
Sly admitted that he fell into an all-too-familiar problem, which led to Jennifer, 54, splitting up with him, even if it was a very short breakup. “Sometimes I put the work ahead of [my family], and that is a tragic mistake which won’t happen again,” he said.
The journalist had asked him about the recent “surge” of headlines surrounding his personal life, and Sylvester explained that he thought of the John Lennon quote “Life is what happens when you’re making other plans.” He said that it was important to make sure the people around you are very supportive and understanding. “Hopefully, you’re involved with people who understand the foibles of life and the fragility of it and how rare a real good relationship is,” he said.
While Sly and Jennifer have patched things up, the actor has said that the short time that the two split up was very difficult for him. “There was a reawakening of what was more valuable than anything, which is my love for my family. It takes precedence over my work and that was a hard lesson to learn,” he told The Sunday Times about the “tumultuous time.”
Jennifer and Sylvester have been married since 1997. The couple share three daughters Sophia, 25, Sistine, 24, and Scarlet Stallone, 20. Jennifer filed for divorce from the Creed star in August, but they officially called off the divorce in October.
A source close to the family revealed to HollywoodLife exclusively that the kids played a major part in helping their parents work through their problems. “Nobody knows Sly and Jennifer better than their girls and they could see that the love was still there just by the way they talked about the divorce and about each other,” they said. “In a way, they almost acted like messengers and worked together to help address, and eventually mend, the issues that were between Sly and Jennifer.”