Berlusconi’s second wife seeks divorce

PREMIER Silvio Berlusconi’s second wife, former actress Veronica Lario, is seeking a divorce after 19 years of marriage, citing his reported flirtations with younger women.

Lario confirmed reports yesterday in La Stampa and La Repubblica that she had retained an attorney to begin separation and divorce proceedings against the billionaire media mogul-turned-politician, ANSA news agency said.

“I was forced to take this step,” La Stampa quoted Lario as saying.

Berlusconi issued a one-line statement yesterday saying: “It’s a personal issue that pains me, that is in the private sphere, and which seems necessary not to speak about.”

Last week, Lario had publicly voiced outrage over reports that Berlusconi’s political party was lining up TV showgirls and starlets as European Parliament candidates.

“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,” Lario had said.

She also lashed out at the premier’s reported attendance at an 18-year-old’s birthday party in Naples, saying she was surprised “because he never came to the 18th of any of his children, even though he was invited”.

It wasn’t the first time the unusually private Lario has publicly complained about her husband’s reported flirtations.

Two years ago, Lario received a public apology from Berlusconi when she wrote an open letter to Repubblica paper complaining about her husband’s telling TV starlet Mara Carfagna: “If I weren’t married, I would marry you immediately.”

Carfagna is now minister for equal opportunities.

Lario and Berlusconi met in 1980, wed 10 years later and have three children in their 20s. Berlusconi has two children from his first marriage.

His union with Lario has long been rumoured to be in trouble – the two don’t live together. But he has been quick to respond to her recent criticism.

He said the reported plans to turn actresses and models into European parliamentarians were a fabrication of the opposition and left-leaning media.

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.

He said about his attendance at the 18-year-old’s birthday that she was a friend’s daughter, and that since he happened to be in Naples, he dropped by “to raise a glass”.