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Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
MIAMI — It’s official: “Rocky” arrives in Florida.
Sylvester Stallone announced during Wednesday’s second season premiere of “The Stallone family” on Paramount+ that he and his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, will be leaving the Golden State of California “permanently” for the Sunshine State.
“After long, hard consideration, your mother and I have decided it is time to move on and leave the state of California permanently,” he told his daughters Scarlet, Sistine and Sophia during a family dinner. “And we’re going to Florida.”
“It’s an empty nest,” Jennifer added. “I need to change it.”
Jennifer, 55, and the 77-year-old movie icon became empty nesters after Sophia, 27, and Sistine, 25, moved to New York City together, while their youngest daughter, Scarlet, 21, was headed to college at the University of Miami.
“I raised our three daughters in California,” Jennifer said in a confessional interview. “Everything is a memory for me, memories of them not being there anymore. So I needed a big change and Sly accepted it.”
The Stallones’ decision to move to Florida followed the couple’s reconciliation after Jennifer filed for divorce from Sylvester in August 2022. However, a Florida court filing revealed that the two decided to “resolve all issues related with the dissolution of their marriage in a dignified manner and in an amicable and private extrajudicial manner” a month later. The duo had been married since May 1997.
The “Rambo” actor admitted during the episode that he initially didn’t like the idea of moving.
“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 in it. I gave up.”
Sistine said the move was a “great idea”; However, Scarlet felt differently and later told Jennifer that she saw herself raising her own children 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 reunited with his “Lords of Flatbush” co-stars, Jon Lovitz and Henry Winkler, for a “true goodbye.”
“The thing is, I don’t want to change things, but I know my wife wants a big adventure,” he told his former co-stars.
Reuniting with other former co-stars, Sylvester began to reminisce about his early days in Hollywood.
“It’s not easy for me to leave California,” the New York native said. “That’s where I started, that’s where I got my chance.”
He later wondered “if it’s the right decision” to leave California for Florida.
“This has big ramifications,” he told Jennifer. “Let’s say it doesn’t work, right? The house we loved, that we had built, is gone.”
Jennifer reassured her husband that she had a more positive attitude.
“We can create new memories, new beginnings,” he said.
Sylvester is now committed to trying Florida life for Jennifer’s sake, telling the cameras, “No matter how I feel, I owe it to Jen to go through this change.”
Although he is a little hesitant about moving to Florida, the Sunshine State welcomes him with open arms.
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis shared her excitement on social media about the actor being Florida’s newest resident.
“Welcome to the Free State of Florida!” DeSantis posted on x. “In addition to respecting and protecting your God-given constitutional right to be free, you can also buy toothpaste without having it unlocked by an armed guard at CVS,” followed by a raised hands emoji.
Sylvester isn’t the only big name to move to Florida in recent months. In January, Fox News personality Sean Hannity He announced on his show that he was moving to the Sunshine State because he was fed up with New York. And over the summer, Inter Miami CF signed a soccer superstar. Lionel Messi and founder of Amazon Jeff Bezos announced that he would return to Miami in November.
Florida continues to grow as it attracts people from across the United States, but that growth is expected to slow in coming years as groups that have been moving to the Sunshine State en masse age. State economists reported in December. Despite that, a March 2023 Redfin study suggested that Florida remains a major hotspot for people to call home, as half of the top 10 most popular destinations were Tampa, Cape Coral, Orlando and North Port-Sarasota.
You can stream “The Family Stallone” now on Paramount+.