TIRED of his crassly flirtatious ways, Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi's second wife, former actress Veronica Lario, is seeking a divorce after 19 years of marriage.
Ms Lario confirmed reports in La Stampa and La Repubblica dailies yesterday that she had retained a lawyer to begin separation and divorce proceedings against the billionaire media mogul-turned-politician, the ANSA news agency said.
"I was force
d to take this step," La Stampa quoted Ms Lario as saying. Yesterday, Mr Berlusconi left his Rome residence and flew to Milan where he was driven into the family villa at Arcore.
He was accompanied by his brother Paolo and as he arrived he told waiting reporters: "This is a personal matter which is also very painful and as such I do not wish to talk about it."
Ms Lario's decision came after she publicly voiced outrage last week over reports that Mr Berlusconi's party was lining up TV starlets as European Parliament candidates. She also lashed out at the premier's reported attendance of an 18-year-old's birthday party in Naples.
Ms Lario and Mr Berlusconi met in 1980, wed ten years later and have three children.
But their marriage has long been rumoured to be in trouble – the two don't live together – and it wasn't the first time that the usually private Ms Lario had publicly complained about her husband's reported flirtations.
Two years ago, Ms Lario received a public apology from Mr Berlusconi when she wrote an open letter to Repubblica – a left-leaning paper critical of the premier – complaining about a compliment her husband had paid to TV star Mara Carfagna.
"If I weren't married, I would marry you immediately," Mr Berlusconi told Ms Carfagna at the time. Ms Carfagna is now his minister for equal opportunities.
This week, Ms Lario again turned to the media to vent over reports by left-leaning newspapers that the candidates for the European parliament elections for Mr Berlusconi's party could include a Big Brother contestant as well as actresses and models.
"The impudence and shamelessness of power offends the credibility of all (women), damages women in general and especially those who have always struggled to defend their rights," Ms Lario said.
Mr Berlusconi contended the reported plans were a fabrication of the opposition. When the official list of candidates was presented on Wednesday, one of the reported names – a former Miss Italy contestant – was included, though some other names that had circulated were not.
Ms Lario also said Mr Berlusconi's presence at an 18-year-old's birthday party surprised her "because he never came to the 18th of any of his children, even though he was invited."
Maria Latella, Ms Lario's biographer, said: "I think what really was the nail in the coffin was the fact that her husband went to an 18-year-old girl's birthday party and not his own children's."
Mr Berlusconi said that since he happened to be in Naples, he dropped by "to raise a glass" in honour of the 18-year-old, who he said was a friend's daughter. Mr Berlusconi has often said it was love at first sight when he saw Ms Lario, then a 24-year-old actress, performing at a Milan theatre in 1980.
"When we met, she made me lose my mind," he once told the women's magazine A. "She's a special woman. She has been and is a wonderful mother. She has never embarrassed me, never."
Ms Lario largely shied away from her role of first lady. But she occasionally broke her silence with stances that suggested an independent personality.
In 2003, Mr Berlusconi acknowledged rumours linking his wife to a left-wing philosophy professor, Massimo Cacciari, during a news conference with the Danish prime minister, Anders Fogh Rasmussen.
"Rasmussen is the most handsome prime minister in Europe," Mr Berlusconi said then. "I'm thinking of introducing him to my wife because he's much more handsome than Cacciari."
