Sylvester Stallone taking divorce woof by covering up tattoo of wife with dog

Either that, or the Hollywood star is taking the news that his wife of 25 years has filed for divorce pretty woof.

Rocky star Sly has had his tattoo of wife Jennifer Flavin covered up with an image of his pet bull mastiff from the 1977 film, Butkus, after the couple’s marriage reportedly went to the dogs.

After the 76 year-old was snapped getting inked this week, his publicist, presumably freaking that the couple are about to launch a reality TV show called The Stallones on new streaming service Paramount+, attempted to blame a botched touch-up of his wife’s portrait on his bicep.

“Mr Stallone intended to refresh the tattoo image of his wife Jennifer, however the results were unsatisfactory and, unfortunately, unfixable,” she claimed. “As a result, he had to cover the original image with a tattoo of his dog from Rocky.”

But the cat – or dog, in this case – was soon out of the bag when the former model and skincare magnate lodged divorce papers on Friday.

Anyway, precisely how bad would a tattoo have to be in order to willingly swap your stunning wife for a flat-faced hound, although at least the dog – which also appeared in 1979 sequel Rocky II – was Stallone’s own and not just an animal actor.

It’s a good thing the actor doesn’t also have the pair’s stunning daughters Sophia (26), Sistine (24) and Scarlet (20) emblazoned on his body, or they could end up as pugs after a Father’s Day present fails to impress.

Let it be a salutary lesson to young lovebirds to think before you ink.

Suffice to say, the dad-of-five isn’t the first to regret going under the needle in the name of love.

Over a third of the Irish population now have a tattoo, according to research, with a quarter now rueing the day they ever rolled up their sleeve, and 5pc actively getting it removed.

Unshockingly, the most regretted ink admitted by almost a third of men and a quarter of women was their other half’s name, outstripping even dodgy tribal designs.

Just ask Angelina Jolie, who famously had her tattoo of ex-husband Billy Bob Thornton’s name covered with the co-ordinates of her children’s birth places after their divorce in 2003.

Or Johnny Depp, whose ‘Wino Forever’ tweak to his 1990 tribute to then-fiancée Winona Ryder proved quite fitting during the viral ‘mega pint of red wine’ moment of his recent defamation battle with ex-wife Amber Heard.

After splitting from Kim Kardashian, Pete Davison may be another candidate for laser tattoo removal after getting a ‘my girl is a lawyer’ doodle, among others, in honour of his girlfriend of just nine months.

Although, when you’ve got more than 70 tattoos, what difference does another few make.

Maybe fellow tattoo fan Sly has the right idea after all. Wives and husbands may come and go, but as the saying goes, a dog is for life.