Sylvester Stallone's mother and astrologer Jackie dies at 98
Washington [US], September 22 (ANI): Jackie Stallone, celebrity astrologer, the mother of Hollywood actor Sylvester, Toni D'Alto, and singer Frank, has died aged 98.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, Frank wrote in a Facebook post, "This morning my brothers and I lost our mother. She died in her sleep as she had wished. It was hard not to like her, she was a very eccentric and flamboyant person."
A larger-than-life character with three famous children, Jackie achieved success and notoriety of her own as one of America's foremost psychics and authored several books on astrology. She was also a champion of women's fitness and was a key figure promoting G.L.O.W., the women's wrestling company, which had acclaimed great success in the 1980s.
Born Jacqueline Frances Labofish on November 29, 1921, in Washington D.C., Jackie lived through the Depression and as a teenager ran away from home to work as an acrobat for Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey circuses. She also worked as a chorus girl and a hairdresser.
Jackie was married three times. She married Frank Stallone Sr., a hairdresser and occasional actor, in 1945 and gave birth to Sylvester in 1946 and Frank Jr. in 1950. Her marriage to Frank Sr. lasted twelve years. She then married Anthony Filiti in 1959 and gave birth to D'Alto in 1964 with her second husband. D'Alto died from cancer in 2012. She married her third husband, Stephen Devine in 1998.
As well as her famous children, Jackie owed much of her own fame to her life-long passion for astrology. She claimed to have given astrological advice to the great and the good in Hollywood as well as world leaders and others.
As reported by The Hollywood Reporter, in 1989, she wrote the book 'Star Power: An Astrological Guide to Supersuccess', and she made numerous television appearances advocating astrology throughout the 1980s and 90s. For a time, she also had her own psychic hotline.
A long-time advocate for personal fitness, and especially women's fitness, Jackie helped establish women-only gyms and pushed for more televised coverage of women's athletics events.
In the mid-1980s, she was a key figure in mainstreaming the women's wrestling promotion the Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (G.L.O.W.), joining the organisation during its heyday just as it had started to gain traction on television. Jackie performed as the kayfabe owner of G.L.O.W. and also managed some of the talents. The origins of G.L.O.W. were recently adapted into a Netflix series.
Jackie is survived by her husband Stephen Devine, her sons Sylvester and Frank and six grandchildren. (ANI)
