Adele insisted on keeping Rocky statue at mansion

Adele purchased Sylvester Stallone’s Beverly Park mansion — on one unusual condition

A split image of Adele posing in dangly earrings, left, and Sylvester Stallone posing in a black shirt.

June 20, 2023 12:53 PM PT

Adele did not go easy on Sylvester Stallone when she purchased his Beverly Park mansion for $58 million last year.

The “Rocky” and “Creed” star revealed Monday in the Wall Street Journal that the “Hello” singer agreed to buy the property on one unique condition: She insisted that his bronze statue of Rocky Balboa remain at the house.

Stallone admitted that he wanted to take the poolside sculpture of the fictional boxing champion punching the air with him, but Adele said, “That’s a no deal. That’s gonna blow the whole deal.”

“She wanted the statue,” the “Tulsa King” actor added.

When the Oscar nominee sold the luxurious 21,000-square-foot home to the Grammy winner in February 2022, it marked the priciest Southern California transaction of the year up to that point. And Adele apparently bought it for a steal after Stallone originally listed the estate in January 2021 for $110 million.

At the time of the sale, the mansion — which sits on 3.5 acres of land with views of the city below — boasted eight bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, a two-story foyer, a pool, a putting green, multiple patios and terraces, a movie theater, a custom bar, a gym and a cigar room with an air-filtration system. Adele has since made some renovations — and the previous owner approves.

“I like what she’s doing,” Stallone told the Wall Street Journal, “she’s making it gorgeous.”

During a 2021 interview with Vogue, the “30” artist shared that she is a big fan of the “Rocky” movies that Stallone wrote and starred in, which could explain her affinity for the statue. In May 2022, she posted a photo of herself and her rumored fiancé, Rich Paul, posing in front of their new digs.

The “Rolling in the Deep” hitmaker, 35, and the sports agent, 41, sparked engagement rumors in winter 2022 after dating less than a year. But Adele, who divorced philanthropist Simon Konecki in March 2021, has refused to confirm or deny that she and Paul are betrothed.

“If I was [engaged], would I ever tell anyone if I was or wasn’t?” she told Irish talk-show host Graham Norton in February 2022.

But that doesn’t mean she’s opposed to oversharing.

Over the weekend, the singer returned to the stage as part of her Las Vegas residency and disclosed an uncomfortable side effect of performing for hours every weekend under a burning spotlight.

“When I do my shows, I wear Spanx,” she told the crowd. “And I sweat a lot, but it doesn’t go anywhere, so I’m basically just sitting in my own sweat. So my doctor gave me jock itch [cream]. Do you guys know what that is?”

She proceeded to joke that the physician’s diagnosis makes her “an athlete, basically,” before acknowledging (too late) that sharing her personal hygiene woes might qualify as TMI.

“I have to squirt it on myself,” she continued. “I don’t know why the f— I just told you guys that.”

Times staff writer Jack Flemming contributed to this report.