Jackie Stallone was the mother of Hollywood actor Sylvester and one of the most memorable contestants of Celebrity Big Brother. Stallone was known as a flamboyant astrologer and wrestling promoter. Born Jacqueline Frances Labofish on 29 November 1921, Stallone ran away from her home in Washington DC as a 15-year-old to join the circus. She worked as a trapeze artist for two years before taking a job as a chorus girl on Broadway in New York.

“My father, who was a wealthy lawyer, wanted me to go to law school, but I wanted to be on stage,” she told The Times in 2005. Stallone married her first husband Frank Stallone Senior, a hairdresser and occasional actor, in 1945. They were married for 12 years and had two sons, actor Sylvester and musician Frank.

Jackie Stallone also had a daughter, Toni D’Alto, during her second marriage to Anthony Filiti. D’Alto died of lung cancer in 2012, at the age of 48.

As a long-time advocate for women’s fitness, Stallone opened Barbella’s in the 1950s, a female-only gym. At the time, she presented an exercise slot on local TV in Washington DC.

In the 1980s, Stallone appeared on the wrestling programme GLOW: Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling, which helped women’s wrestling become mainstream on television. The history of the organisation has recently been chronicled in the Netflix series Glow, starring Alison Brie and Betty Gilpin.

While her son Sylvester Stallone made a name for himself in Hollywood through films like Rambo and Rocky, Jackie Stallone remained relatively low-profile, only becoming a household name in her own right in the 1990s, through her life-long passion for astrology.

In 1989, she wrote the book Star Power: An Astrological Guide to Supersuccess and started to make regular TV appearances as an astrologer and psychic. She also ran her own psychic hotline, where she claimed to have invented the term “rumpology,” which is the art of reading people’s futures by reading the lines and crevices of their bottoms.

Stallone married her third husband Stephen Devine in 1998, although they lived apart for the majority of their relationship. “He’d prefer we lived together, but I did that for 20 years with my previous husbands and it didn’t work,” she once explained.

This morning, 22 September 2020, it was announced that Jackie Stallone has died aged 98.

Jackie Stallone passed away in her sleep, as her son Frank announced in an Instagram post. “I guess I’m drowning my emotions in tears and too much vino,” he wrote. “But when you’ve known someone for 70 years it’s tough and sad. My brother Sylvester took care of her like a Queen for all of her life. I will never be able to call my mom again or have her yell at me why I never got married. But we all loved her and her spirit to survive and prevail. I’ll miss you always mommy.”

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This morning my brothers and I lost our mother Jackie Stallone . She was the mother to four children, Tommy, Sylvester, Frankie and my late sister Toni Ann. She was a remarkable woman working out everyday full of spunk and fearless . She died in her sleep as she had wished. It was hard not to like her, she was very eccentric and flamboyant person. She was born on November 29 th 1921 in Washington DC ,she lived through prohibition , the depression and World War II . I would talk to her for hours about the 20's 30's and 40's. It was a history lesson. Her mind was as sharp as a razor till the day she died. She never wore a mask a true revolutionary gal . I guess I'm drowning my emotions in tears and to much vino. But when you've known someone for 70 yrs it tough and sad. She had seven grandchildren and 3 great grandchildren . My brother Sylvester took care of her like a Queen for all of her life. I will never be able to call my mom again or have her yell at me why I never got married . But we all loved her and her sprit to survive and prevail . I'll miss you always mommy. @officialslystallone

A post shared by Frank Stallone (@frank.stallone) on Sep 21, 2020 at 9:22pm PDT

Stallone is survived by her husband Devine, her sons Sylvester and Frank and her six grandchildren.

In 2005, Stallone had a memorable appearance in the UK’s version of Celebrity Big Brother when she entered the house as a surprise contestant. Her arrival was a shock for her former daughter-in-law Brigitte Nielsen, with whom she had a complicated relationship.

Upon seeing Stallone, Nielsen exclaimed: “Oh my God! Jackie!” In response, Stallone, who was then wearing a fur coat and sunglasses, answered: “Yeah… Jackie.”

Broadcaster Jamie East, who presented Big Brother’s Bit On The Side, wrote today on Twitter: “RIP Jackie Stallone – responsible for one of the greatest ever moments on television.”

https://twitter.com/jamieeast/status/1308280050328969218

Stallone was still active even into her 90s. She was practising weight-lifting and trapeze training while also attempting to defy the signs of age with a series of plastic surgeries, which she later revealed was regrettable by telling Reveal magazine: “I look like I’ve got a mouthful of nuts… I feel I look like a chipmunk.”