He was dating Jennifer Flavin when former girlfriend Janice Dickinson reached out to him to say she was pregnant with what she thought was his child.
After a strew of broken relationships, Sylvester Stallone met Jennifer Flavin in 1988, and the two started dating. Despite the age gap between the two of them, she felt like a breath of fresh air to him. In fact, she helped him slowly come out of a rough patch he was going through. He soon started "loving life again" and the two started to spend all their time together. "When we come together, it is wonderful. When we are separate, there are no strings attached. That’s the way it is. No strings." said the actor, according to PEOPLE.
Even though Flavin had heard stories of Stallone's infidelities, she trusted him. She believed he would never cheat on her. Everything seemed to be going well for the lovebirds until one day Stallone found out something that turned his life upside down.
This is probably why, the Rocky star sent Flavin a letter via FedEx, stating he had to break up with her. Since Stallone didn't even tell her this was coming her way, Flavin was heartbroken. Soon, she heard the actor had fathered a child with his previous girlfriend, former supermodel, Janice Dickinson. Flavin was heartbroken, her trust in Stallone was gone.
In her autobiography, No Lifeguard On Duty, Dickinson claimed that the baby was Stallone's, and he was surprised at first. Soon he expressed his doubts about the child not being his. "How do you know it's not Michael Birnbaum's?", he asked her according to Mirror Online.
His question was valid, given how the woman had affairs with Stallone and another artist while being in a relationship with film producer Michael Birnbaum. Though she was not sure, she felt Stallone was the father. "Well, I didn't - in fact, it could even have been the artist's - but in all honesty, deep down, I felt the child was Sly's," said Dickinson.
She added, "Things hadn't been going well with Michael for some time, and we split up later that week when I came clean about Stallone," she revealed and continued, "But Sly didn't call, as I had expected him to, and a week later I discovered I was pregnant. I called Sly and went over to see him. We had supper and made love - he'd improved considerably since our brief debut. Then I told him I was pregnant."
But, since Stallone was a man of honor, he decided to be by Dickinson's side, given how he believed she was pregnant with their child.
Her daughter, Savannah was born and Stallone helped the model get back to work just a month after the pregnancy. "Six weeks after Savannah's birth in 1994, and with the help of Sly's exercise and vitamin regime, I got back in shape and walked down the catwalk for Versace," said Dickinson, according to Daily Mail. By then, Stallone and Dickinson were engaged for 6 months.
But somewhere, deep down, it seems Stallone knew Savannah wasn't his child. So he got a paternity test done, and on the day of Dickinson's big fashion show, his doubts were confirmed. Savannah was not his daughter. "It was a great success - but as I walked down the runway for the final time, I realized Sly had left his seat. I found him back at our hotel. He didn't look happy," stated the model.
She went to the hotel to look for him, and there he was, upset and angry. "'She's not mine. I just heard from the DNA lab in Long Beach. Savannah's not mine. Send my regards to Mr. Birnbaum' - and with that, he stood up," recalled Dickinson. In one go, he'd lost Flavin and the little girl whom he considered his daughter.
But, you know what they say- what's meant to be will always find a way! Eventually, Flavin did find her way back to Stallone and was willing to give him another chance. They ended up getting married, and they are now parents of three beautiful daughters!
References:
https://people.com/archive/rocky-ending-vol-41-no-16/
https://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/sylvester-stallones-agony-after-discovering-22321084
Cover Image Source: Getty Images | Photo by Rich Fury
