American star Sylvester Stallone is going through a difficult time after learning that his mother, Jackie Stallone, has passed away. She became well known as an astrologer and as a promoter of the women’s wrestling organization GLOW, helping bring women’s wrestling to major television networks.
Jackie Stallone, the mother of Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, a television personality and renowned astrologer, died on Monday at the age of 98, according to the BBC, as reported by Agerpres.
Jackie, an eccentric woman with a strong personality who made a name for herself as an astrologer and promoter of women’s wrestling, “died in her sleep as she had wished,” her youngest son, singer Frank Stallone, revealed in a social media post.
Jackie Stallone, the mother of Hollywood star Sylvester Stallone, was a television personality and renowned astrologer. She died on Monday at the age of 98, according to the BBC, as reported by Agerpres.
Jackie, an eccentric and flamboyant woman with a powerful personality, became known as an astrologer and promoter of women’s wrestling. Her youngest son, singer Frank Stallone, said that she “died in her sleep as she had wished.”
“She was hard not to like. She was a very eccentric and flamboyant person. Her mind remained razor-sharp until the day she died,” he added.
Jackie, whose full name was Jacqueline Frances Labofish, was born on November 29, 1921. At the age of 15, she ran away from her home in Washington to join a circus troupe.
“My father, who was a wealthy lawyer, wanted me to study law, but I wanted to be on stage,” she revealed in a 2005 interview with The Times.
Jackie worked as a trapeze artist for two years before becoming a chorus singer in Broadway productions.
She married her first husband, Frank Stallone Sr., a hairdresser and occasional actor, in 1945. They remained together for 12 years and had two sons: actor Sylvester Stallone and musician Frank Stallone.
Jackie also had a daughter, Toni D’Alto, who was born during her second marriage to Anthony Filiti. Toni D’Alto died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 48.
She Was a Promoter of Women’s Wrestling
A longtime supporter of women’s fitness, Jackie opened a women-only gym called Barbarella’s in the 1950s. She later presented fitness exercises on a television program broadcast by a local Washington station.
During the 1980s, she appeared on and promoted GLOW — Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling — which helped bring women’s wrestling to major television networks. The organization later inspired the Netflix series GLOW, starring Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin.
While her son Sylvester became a Hollywood superstar through films such as the Rocky and Rambo franchises, Jackie Stallone remained relatively out of the spotlight for some time. Eventually, however, she became a celebrity in her own right during the 1990s because of her lifelong passion for astrology.
In 1989, she published the book Star Power: An Astrological Guide to Supersuccess and began appearing regularly on television programs as an astrologer and psychic.
She later launched a psychic telephone hotline and claimed to have invented the term “rumpology,” referring to the supposed art of predicting a person’s future by interpreting the lines and shapes of their buttocks.
She married her third husband, Stephen Devine, in 1998. However, for most of their marriage, the couple preferred to live in separate homes located about 10 miles (16 kilometers) apart.
“He preferred that we live together, but I had already done that for 20 years with my first two husbands, and it didn’t work,” she explained.
In 2005, Jackie Stallone became part of a memorable moment on the British version of Celebrity Big Brother when she entered the house as a surprise guest.
Her arrival came as a shock to her former daughter-in-law, Brigitte Nielsen, with whom Jackie had a notoriously strained relationship.
Jackie continued to maintain an active lifestyle even after turning 90, including weightlifting and trapeze exercises. She also tried to fight the effects of aging through several cosmetic procedures, which she later admitted she regretted.
“I’ve actually had too much done. I look like I’ve got a mouth full of nuts… I feel like I look like a chipmunk,” she said in a 2013 interview with Reveal magazine.