Augusta GA Divorce Attorney - Veronica Lario breaks silence over divorce from Silvio Berlusconi
by Susan Walsh/AP
Richard Owen in Rome
Veronica Lario, the wife of Silvio Berlusconi, the Italian Prime Minister, has broken her silence over their acrimonious public divorce, saying that nobody knows the "true story" behind the break-up and that she and her marriage have been "brutally besmirched".
In her first public statement since she asked for a divorce at the end of April, Ms Lario said in a brief letter to the Italian daily Corriere della Sera, published on its front page, that "during these last weeks I have watched in silence without reacting in the media to the brutal besmirching of myself, my dignity and the story of my marriage".
She added "What is certain is that the truth of the relationship between myself and my husband has not even been touched on, nor has the reason for which I had to turn to the press to communicate with him. It is also certain that I have always loved him, and that I have lived my life at the service of my marriage and my family."
Ms Lario demanded a divorce after her husband had attended the 18th birthday party in Naples of Noemi Letizia, an aspiring model who said she called him "Papi" and that he had "brought me up". Ms Letizia said that Mr Berlusconi, who gave her a €6,000 gold and diamond pendant for her birthday, often phoned her, "and I go to him".
Announcing divorce proceedings, Ms Lario said she could "not stay with a man who frequents minors", and that he was "not well". She was later reported to have told friends that "the problem is not just that girl" as reports emerged of parties at Villa Certosa, Mr Berlusconi's Sardinian villa, involving semi-naked showgirls.
Two years ago Ms Lario demanded — and received — a public apology from Mr Berlusconi after he flirted at a television awards ceremony with Mara Carfagna, a former topless model, saying he would "marry her like a shot" if free to do so. Last year Mr Berlusconi defiantly made Ms Carfagna Minister for Equal Opportunities after winning his third term as Prime Minister.
Ms Lario, a former actress who lives in her own mansion near Milan, is known for her reticence. Her latest Delphic statement appears in part to be a belated reaction to allegations two weeks by Daniela Santanchè, a right-wing former deputy linked to Mr Berlusconi's ruling People of Liberty party, that Ms Lario had long had a "companion", naming him as Alberto Orlandi, her bodyguard. Neither Ms Lario nor Mr Orlandi has commented publicly, though "friends" have told Italian newspapers that the allegation is unfounded.
Ms Santanchè made the accusation in the right-wing newspaper Libero, which has also published photographs of Ms Lario appearing topless on the stage in her early career as an actress, when Mr Berlusconi — married at the time to his first wife — got to know her.
Ms Lario's letter to Corriere della Sera may also have been prompted by Mr Berlusconi's reported remarks to aides this week blaming his wife for a drop in his support in last weekend's European and local elections. He said abstentions were also due to the "plot against me" over Ms Letizia and the Villa Certosa parties, and his unpopular decision as owner of AC Milan to sell the football star Kaka to Real Madrid.
The People of Liberty party comfortably won the European and local elections with 35 per cent of the vote, easily defeating the divided and demoralised Italian Left, which won 26 per cent. However, the vote was seen in Italy as a setback for Mr Berlusconi as he had predicted he would win 45 per cent. Il Giornale, Mr Berlusconi's own newspaper, had said that anything below 37 per cent would be "a failure".
"Berlusconi stopped" ran the headline in La Stampa. It added: "Berlusconi is paying the price for his divorce, the showgirl scandals and his relationship with Noemi Letizia." It said the accusation by Milan judges that Mr Berlusconi had given David Mills, the British lawyer, a bribe to lie for him in court in 1990s corruption cases may also have had an effect.
Mr Berlusconi had emphasised his achievements in cracking down on illegal immigration and crime, responding energetically to the Abruzzo earthquake in April, and his international role as host of next month's G8 summit in Italy. However he was forced publicly to deny having had sex with Ms Letizia, who was a guest at his Sardinian villa when she was 17.
The real winners of the European and local vote were the anti-immigrant Northern League, led by Umberto Bossi, which won 10.2 per cent, up from 8.3 per cent in the national election last year, and the centre-left Italy of Values party led by Antonio Di Pietro, the former anti-corruption magistrate , which won 8 per cent, up from 4.3 per cent a year ago.
The setback may halt Mr Berlusconi's plans to change the Constitution to cut down the number of deputies in Parliament, increase his powers as Prime Minister and eventually introduce a presidential system of government along US or French lines, with himself as head of state.
La Repubblica today reported that Judge Carlo Alemi, president of the Naples Tribunal, had opened an inquiry into why Ms Letizia's father, Benedetto (Elio) Letizia, a Naples council employee, had never been proscuted despite having been arrested in 1993 for alleged corruption. Mr Letizia was investigated, together with other officials, for allegedly taking bribes in connection with the issuing of business licences. No further legal action was taken, however, and Mr Letizia denies the charge.
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