BATTLE lines were drawn yesterday as Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi hit back at his wife's demand for a divorce and said: "She should apologise to me."
Mr Berlusconi, 72, said that he also knew who was "egging on his wife" Veronica Lario, 52, and said that in fact it should be he seeking a split.
In interviews with two of Italy's leading newspapers Corriere Della Sera and La Stampa – neither of w
hich he owns – the media tycoon turned politician unleashed his fury.
He stormed: "I am indignant. Veronica has fallen into a trap and I know who has been advising her or better still egging her on. Don't worry everything will come out, the truth will emerge."
Asked if a last-minute reconciliation was possible, he said: "I don't think so, I don't know if I want it this time. Veronica should publicly apologise to me … And I don't know if that will be enough. It's the third time that she has pulled off a trick like this during an election campaign.
"It really is too much," the prime minister said.
Ms Lario demanded the divorce after her patience finally snapped when it emerged Mr Berlusconi had been to 18-year-old Noemi Letizia's birthday in Naples – having never attended any of their three children's coming of age parties.
Ms Lario said she was "fed up with her husband being seen with minors" and her decision came just days after she also said his idea of fielding young, attractive female candidates for next month's European elections was "shameless rubbish".
Lawyers are already discussing the terms of the split and although Ms Lario has said she wants it to be "calm and without fuss" insiders say she will be looking at securing a good piece of his $9 billion fortune for their three children.
In his interview Mr Berlusconi hit back at claims he was putting forward attractive women candidates. "They had degrees and were qualified. There were no show girls or models.
"Veronica simply fell into the media trap that was created and she believed what was written in the newspapers."
Mr Berlusconi pointed out that of four TV stars and models named by the Italian media as prospective candidates only one had made the cut – Barbara Matera, 30, and he again stressed she had a degree.
He also hit back at the eyebrow raising innuendos made about him attending Noemi's party – especially as following the event she revealed how she called him "papi" (daddy] and was given a gold and diamond necklace by him.
He said: "Again that was all media hype and there were a lot of inaccuracies in what was written."
The couple's children are said to have told Ms Lario that they want her to be happy, but that they will not "go against their father".
Mr Berlusconi met Ms Lario in 1980 while she was appearing in a play in Milan called The Magnificent Cuckold – at one point during the performance standing on stage topless.
Ms Lario's patience had begun to wear thin with Mr Berlusconi in 2007, after he told Mara Carfagna, a former TV showgirl and now an MP in his party: "If I wasn't married I would marry you."
At the same event he told another star: "I would willingly run away with you," provoking Ms Lario to demand a public apology – which she received.
