Sylvester Stallone speaks out after shock reconciliation with wife Jennifer Flavin

Sylvester Stallone and his no-longer-estranged wife Jennifer Flavin. Photo / AP

Sylvester Stallone has branded his reconciliation with wife Jennifer Flavin a “reawakening”.

The couple’s 25-year union came to an end back in August when Jennifer -the mother of his daughters Scarlet, 20, Sistine, 24, and Sophia, 25 - filed for divorce amid rumours their relationship was rocked by arguments over the family dog, but the couple later put their differences aside and got back together with their lawyers dismissing the divorce petition.

The 76-year-old Rocky star has now opened up about the “near-divorce” and insisted he has learned some valuable lessons, telling the SundayTimes newspaper: “Let’s just say that it was a very tumultuous time”.

“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.

Stallone has also started rethinking his relationship with his daughters and insisted he is determined to be an attentive father. He went on: “I didn’t pay enough attention when they were growing up. I was so career-oriented, and now I go, ‘OK, I don’t have that much runway up ahead, and I want to start asking them about their lives.”

Stallone said he now goes out of his way to ask his daughters about their lives.

“I ask them about their day, and they started at first a little monosyllabic. Then I heard one say, ‘I was just thinking about you.’ Oh, my God. I’ve never heard that before in my life’.

“When a daughter knows you care, she’s there forever.”

Stallone and Flavin reconciled in September a month after filming for divorce, and the actor’s representative later said in a statement: “They decided to meet back up at home, where they talked and were able to work out their differences. They are both extremely happy.”