IT WOULD seem that things are going from bad to worse in the Berlusconi household.
Italian media sources reported yesterday that Veronica Lario, wife of media tycoon and prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, intends to file for a divorce from her famous husband.
Earlier this week, 52-year-old Mrs Berlusconi, a former actress, gave an indignant interview to state news agency ANSA in which she complained about the fact that Mr Berlusconi’s Freedom Party (PDL) intended to field a number of models, actresses, “starlets” and TV presenters as candidates in the forthcoming European elections, calling this the politics of “shameless rubbish”. Partly in response to her criticisms, a number of these attractive young female candidates were eventually dropped from the party list.
In that same interview, Mrs Berlusconi also expressed her consternation at media reports that the 72-year-old prime minister had last week attended the 18th birthday party of Neapolitan Noemi Letizia, pointing out that he had failed to attend the “18ths” of the three children he has had with her, namely Barbara (24), Eleonora (22) and Luigi (20).
Mr and Mrs Berlusconi were married in a civil ceremony in 1990. Initial reports from Mr Berlusconi’s staff suggested his presence at Ms Leitizia’s 18th had been linked to the fact that her father was an old “acquaintance” who had worked as chauffeur to former Italian prime minister, the late Bettino Craxi, a longtime political ally and friend of Mr Berlusconi. However, Bobo Craxi, son of Bettino Craxi, issued a statement this week pointing out that Mr Letizia had never worked for his father.
Mr Letizia is a local government employee and small shop owner in the Secondigliano area of Naples, an area controlled by the camorra, the Neapolitan mafia. Media reports suggest that Ms Letizia owes her familiarity with the prime minister not to her father but rather to the fact that, as someone aspiring to a career in showbiz, she sent her portfolio and CV to Mr Berlusconi, a man who after all is still the owner of three nationwide TV channels.
Mr Berlusconi was so helpful in his reply, claims Ms Letizia, that she was summoned to meet him in Milan and Rome. When the man she refers to as “papi” turned up at her birthday party, he brought with him an expensive necklace by way of birthday present.
The “indiscretion” may well have been the straw that broke the camel’s back since Mrs Berlusconi was widely reported yesterday as saying that she could no longer live with “a man who keeps company with minors”. Mr Berlusconi’s initial response to his wife’s public complaints last Wednesday had been to downplay her remarks, saying that she had been misled by the leftist media.
Having ordered a rethink on “starlet” European candidates, the prime minister was allegedly ready to travel to Milan to explain himself to his wife. However, Mrs Berlusconi sent a message to Rome telling him not to bother.
This time, she implied, he had gone too far.
Throughout 30 years in public life alongside her husband Veronica Lario has kept a remarkably low profile. However, two years ago, she caused consternation by writing an open letter to Rome daily, La Repubblicain which she demanded a public apology from her husband after he had been effusive in his praise of showgirl Mara Carfagna during a TV awards ceremony. Since then, the glamorous Ms Carfagna has exchanged show business for politics and she now serves as minister for equal opportunity in the Berlusconi government.
Commentators have speculated that the division of Mr Berlusconi’s €6 billion empire among his five children may have prompted Mrs Berlusconi’s attacks on her husband, something which she has denied. If Mrs Berlusconi pushes ahead with the divorce then things could get rough.
Last Thursday, centre-right daily Libero, a paper often sympathetic to Mr Berlusconi, published front-page pictures of a bare breasted Mrs Berlusconi on stage during her acting days. Furthermore, many centre-right supporters also wrote to the Freedom Party website criticising her.