Sylvester Stallone announces he's leaving California "permanently" and moving to Florida
MIAMI — It's official: "Rocky" is coming to Florida.
Sylvester Stallone announced during Wednesday's season two premiere of "The Family Stallone" on Paramount+ that he and his wife, Jennifer Flavin Stallone, are leaving the Golden State of California "permanently" for the Sunshine State.
"After long, hard consideration, your mother and I have decided, time to move on and leave the state of California permanently," he told his daughters Scarlet, Sistine and Sophia over family dinner. "And, we're going to Florida."
"It's an empty nest," Jennifer added. "I need to change it up."
Jennifer, 55, and the 77-year-old film icon became empty nesters after 27-year-old Sophia and 25-year-old Sistine moved together to New York City, while their youngest Scarlet, 21, headed off to college at the University of Miami.
"I raised all three of our daughters in California," Jennifer said in a confessional interview. "Everything's a memory to me, memories of them not being there anymore. So, I needed a big change and Sly went along with 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 attendant to the dissolution of their marriage in a dignified, amicable and private manner out-of-court" 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 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 said the move was a "great idea;" however, Scarlet felt differently, later telling to 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 on in the episode, Sylvester met with his "Lords of Flatbush" costars Jon Lovitz and Henry Winkler for a "true farewell."
"The thing is, I don't want to shake things up, but I know my wife wants big adventure," he told his former costars.
Reuniting with other former costars, Sylvester began to reminisce of his early days in Hollywood.
"It's not easy for me to leave California," the New York native said. "That's where I got my start, that's where I got my break."
Later, he wondered "whether it's the right move" to leave California for Florida.
"This has great ramifications," he told Jennifer. "Let's say it doesn't work out, no what? The house that we love, that we had built, gone."
Jennifer reassured her husband, saying that she had a more positive outlook.
"We can make new memories, new beginnings," she said.
Sylvester is now committed to trying out the Florida life for Jennifer's sake, telling the cameras: "No matter how I'm feeling, I owe it to Jen to go through this move."
Even though he's a little hesitant about moving to Florida, he is being welcomed to the Sunshine State with open arms.
Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis shared on social media her excitement 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 an armed guard in CVS unlock it for you," followed by a uplifting hands emoji.
Sylvester is not the only big name that has moved to Florida in recent months. Back in January, Fox News personality Sean Hannity announced on his show that he was moving to the Sunshine State due to being fed up with New York. And over the summer, Inter Miami CF signed soccer superstar Lionel Messi and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced that he was moving back to Miami in November.
Florida continues to grow as it attracts people from across the U.S., but that growth is projected to slow in the coming years as groups that have been moving to the Sunshine State in droves get older, state economists reported in December. Despite that, a Redfin study from March 2023 suggested that Florida still remains to be a major hotspot for people to call home, as half of the 10 most popular destinations were Tampa, Cape Coral, Orlando and North Port-Sarasota.
You can catch "The Family Stallone" streaming now on Paramount+.