Why Sylvester Stallone’s Wife’s Remarks Could Spark Backlash From Hollywood Parents of Trans Kids

Jennifer Flavin went on a podcast and said the quiet part out loud about Hollywood parenting. Depending on where you land, you might call it a hot take, a sweeping generalization, or both. Either way, it is going to ruffle a lot of feathers in industry circles.

What Flavin said, and why it is blowing up

On The Katie Miller Podcast, Flavin was asked why there seem to be so many transgender kids among celebrity families. Her answer: in her view, a lot of Hollywood parents are projecting their own anything-goes approach to self-expression onto their kids. She described the culture as permissive to the point of confusion and argued that children need boundaries and routine.

These kids are not our accessories. They are little human beings who need structure, because structure helps their brains make sense of the world.

She also painted a picture of what that looseness looks like to her, saying it can get as broad as a daily identity free-for-all: if a kid wants to be a cat today, they are a cat. Flavin stressed she is fine with people deciding who they are as adults, but believes parents should stick to what she called common-sense guardrails while kids are still developing.

She used her own daughters as an example, saying they were tomboys who preferred pants to dresses and sports to frills. She says she never told them they were boys; she simply affirmed their interests without relabeling them.

A clip of the interview got extra traction after the account Shadow of Ezra posted it on X on October 17, 2025, which only amplified the reaction.

Why this strikes a nerve in Hollywood

Plenty of big-name parents have publicly supported their transgender or nonbinary kids, and they have often shared the learning curve that comes with it. Jamie Lee Curtis, for instance, has talked about being a grateful student while supporting her daughter Ruby, who came out publicly in 2021 after telling her parents the year before. Ruby has said the toughest part was just the act of telling them something so personal, not their reaction.

Charlize Theron has asked the press to use the correct pronouns for her eldest, Jackson, and recalled that Jackson told her at age three, plainly, that she was not a boy. Cher has said that even though she struggled at first with Chaz Bono’s transition, his happiness is what matters. Warren Beatty once called his and Annette Bening’s son, Stephen Ira, a revolutionary and his hero; Bening has described him as incredibly brilliant. In short: a lot of famous parents have been open about listening, learning, and backing their kids.

• Jamie Lee Curtis and Christopher Guest — daughter Ruby (trans)
• Charlize Theron — daughter Jackson (trans)
• Cher — son Chaz Bono (trans)
• Annette Bening and Warren Beatty — son Stephen Ira (trans man)
• Colin Mochrie and Debra McGrath — daughter Kinley (trans)
• Ally Sheedy — son Beckett Alexander (trans)
• Cynthia Nixon — son Samuel Joseph Mozes (trans)
• Dwyane Wade and Gabrielle Union-Wade — daughter Zaya Wade (trans)
• Heather Dubrow — son Ace (trans)
• Marcia Gay Harden — has said her three kids are queer and trans
• Naomi Watts and Liev Schreiber — daughter Kai
• Sade — son Izaak Theo Adu
• Sting and Trudie Styler — Eliot Sumner (nonbinary)
• Marlon Wayans — child Kai (they/them)
• Jennifer Lopez — child Emme Maribel Muniz (they/them)

Whether you agree with Flavin or not, you can see why her comments land like a grenade in a town where a lot of high-profile parents have made public, intentional choices to support their kids’ identities.

The Stallone family context

If you watched The Family Stallone on Paramount+, you already know Flavin and Sylvester Stallone’s home life is not exactly private. The reality series ran for two seasons and featured Flavin and their three daughters — Sophia, Sistine, and Scarlet — alongside Stallone.

Flavin started as a model at 19 with Elite and popped up on TV over the years, including Good Day Live, American Gladiators, and The Contender. She even had a small on-screen moment in Rocky V. In recent years she pivoted to business, co-founding the skincare company Serious Skin Care.

Her relationship with Stallone had its ups and downs. He had an affair with Janice Dickinson that led to a breakup in 1994. They reconciled in 1995, married in 1997, and after Flavin filed for divorce in August 2022, they ultimately got back together again.

Their middle daughter, Sistine, followed Flavin into modeling, signing with IMG in 2016 and getting tagged by Vogue as a fresh face to watch. She made noise with Love magazine’s Advent calendar shoot and then crossed into acting with 47 Meters Down: Uncaged (2019) and Midnight in the Switchgrass (2021) opposite Bruce Willis and Megan Fox. She also co-wrote the upcoming film Scavenger Hunt, directed by Elle Callahan and starring her dad.

Eldest daughter Sophia graduated from USC in 2019, co-hosts the Unwaxed podcast with Sistine, and runs the Favorite Book Club online. She had heart surgery at two months old and another procedure in 2012 to fix a congenital valve malformation.

Youngest daughter Scarlet finished high school in 2021 and made her New York Fashion Week debut in February 2024 walking for Tommy Hilfiger. Stallone, watching from the sidelines, summed up his mood simply: 'What can I tell you, I am a very proud father.'

Stallone also has two sons with ex-wife Sasha Czack. Sage Stallone, who acted with his father in Rocky V and studied filmmaking for a year at the North Carolina School of the Arts, died of heart disease on July 13, 2012. Their other son, Seargeoh, was diagnosed with autism at age three and has stayed largely out of the public eye.

So, where does that leave this?

Flavin’s framing — structure vs. expression — is going to resonate with some and infuriate others, especially given how many celebrity families have openly backed their kids. That tension is exactly why the clip is everywhere right now. Sound off below.