When it came to Sylvester Stallone’s Rocky statue, Adele wouldn’t take no for an answer.
The Skyfall singer reportedly purchased his Los Angeles mansion for $58 million (£45.6m) last year but threatened to walk away if Stallone didn’t include the sculpture of his Rocky Balboa character overlooking his pool. Stallone was rueful, but glad it was in safe hands.
When asked by The Wall Street Journal in an interview published on Monday if he had wanted to keep the sculpture, he responded, “I did.”
“But she said, ‘That’s a no deal. That’s gonna blow the whole deal,’” he recounted. “She wanted the statue. I like what she’s doing, she’s making it gorgeous.”
Adele bought the 3.6-acre property in Beverly Park at significantly less than the original listing of $110 million (£78.6m) and its subsequent reduction to $80 (£62.8m) million, per ET. The singer has since gutted the mansion and removed the second story — but kept the iconic statue.
According to photos published by TMZ, Stallone appeared to have two Rocky statues in his possession at the time of sale: one with both arms raised, which was kept inside the house, and another pumping one fist into the air that was overlooking the pool.
Stallone commissioned sculptor A. Thomas Schomberg to create a bronze statue of the fictional boxer with both arms raised in 1980 for Rocky III. In the 1982 movie, the statue is placed in the courtyard of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. After the filming, Stallone gifted the piece to the city of Philadelphia, and it now resides by the steps of the museum.
A copy of the statue was placed in the San Diego Hall of Champions Sports Museum, until an anonymous buyer — who turned out to be Stallone — purchased it for $403,657 in 2017 (£317,314) after it was put up for auction, according to ABC News. That statue stands taller than 12 feet and weighs 1,800 pounds. It was moulded to show Rocky raising his arms in triumph during a training montage from the original 1976 movie.
Stallone reportedly wrote the original Rocky script in three days. He successfully fought to star as Balboa in the film and was nominated for Oscars for Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay.
Stallone recently told The Hollywood Reporter about his anger toward Irwin Winkler, producer of the Rocky series and Creed spinoffs, and how those involved “gave away whatever rights I would have had.” Stallone also addressed the producer and his family directly on Instagram last year.
The action movie icon is currently going through a divorce.
Jennifer Flavin claimed in her 2022 filing that Stallone’s alleged “dissipation, depletion and/or waste of marital assets” has had “an adverse economic impact on the marital estate.” Stallone told HuffPost the two were “privately addressing” these “issues.”
As for Adele, the singer was presumably ready to set fire to the rain if she didn’t get one of Stallone’s Rocky statues — and fought like a champ to claim it.