Sylvester Stallone has tattoo of wife covered with image of dog

The actor, 75, has since down-played speculation his marriage could be on the rocks after he replaced the design on his right bicep with a picture of Butkus, a bull mastiff from the film franchise.

The rep said that his new inking comes after a botched refresh of his wife’s portrait on his arm.

"As a result, he had to cover the original image with a tattoo of his dog from Rocky, Butkus.

"Mr. Stallone loves his family. The Stallones are presently filming a reality show together which will debut on Paramount+."

Flavin, who is 22 years younger than the actor, sparked speculation that there was trouble in paradise earlier this month when she posted a photo hugging their three daughters on Instagram.

The 53-year-old, who doesn’t follow Stallone on Instagram at the time of writing, captioned the August 10 post: “These girls are my priority. Nothing else matters. The 4 of us forever.”

UNILAD has contacted Sylvester Stallone's rep for comment.

The A-list pair celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary in May and Stallone marked the occasion with a social media tribute to Flavin, branding her an ‘incredible selfless woman’.

He said at the time: "Happy 25th anniversary to my amazing wife.

"There is not enough words to describe what this incredibly selfless dedicated, patient, woman has meant to our lives and I only wish they could be another 25! Thank you sweetheart! (sic)".

While Flavin penned at the time: "Thank you for always keeping me laughing, loving and protecting our beautiful family!

“Our marriage keeps getting better every year! I can't wait to spend the rest of our lives together!"

The couple first met in 1988 when Flavin was just 20 years old shortly after his second marriage to Brigitte Nielsen had ended.

They briefly dated before they broke up when he sent her a letter by FedEx. He briefly moved on with Janice Dickinson and even got engaged to actress Angie Everhart, before reuniting with Flavin.

The couple tied the knot in May, 1997 at London's Dorchester Hotel, and at the time, she weighed in on his then playboy reputation.

She said: "I'm not naïve about what may go on when I'm not around – he's a 45-year-old man – I can't change the way he is.

"Still, he's not a cheating dog every day of the week. We spend five out of seven nights together, so I don't know where he'd find the time."