Sylvester Stallone has joked that he cannot retire from acting because he needs to pay for his daughter Sophia’s wedding.
The 80-year-old Rocky star discussed the upcoming ceremony during an appearance on Live With Kelly and Mark, revealing that Sophia, 30, is engaged to her long-term boyfriend, Michael Sheehan.
“One of my daughters is getting married,” Stallone said. He added that her fiancé had come to the house and asked for her hand in marriage.
Kelly Ripa suggested that Sheehan must have been “terrified” to ask Stallone for his blessing.
“He was very confident and I went, ‘Wow, good luck pal,’” Stallone recalled. “My wife had to be there to be [the] referee.”
Asked how much he expected to contribute towards the wedding, the actor replied: “Oh man, it’s almost embarrassing to say, but I can’t retire. I can’t retire, I’m serious.”
Stallone said he had been trying to persuade the couple to elope in Las Vegas instead, offering to give Sophia the money he would otherwise have spent on the wedding.
“I said, ‘Why don’t you guys go to Vegas? I’ll give you the money. Have Elvis marry you for $5 … and take what I would have spent,’” he said.
Sophia is the eldest of Stallone’s three daughters with his wife, Jennifer Flavin, 58. The couple also have daughters Sistine, 28, and Scarlet, 24.
Stallone has two sons with his former wife Sasha Czack: Seargeoh, 47, and Sage, who died in 2012 aged 36.
