Veronica Lario claims in her revised biography that she asked for a divorce from hubby of 19 years because she wanted to respect herself
Veronica Lario claims in her revised biography that she asked for a divorce from hubby of 19 years because she wanted to "respect herself"Veronica Lario, the wife of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who is entangled in a spate of scandals involving other women, says she wants a divorce because she can no longer stop him from "looking ridiculous before the world".
In a revised edition of a biography, Veronica Lario said she had no choice but to leave Berlusconi after newspapers said he had attended an aspiring model's 18th birthday party. He told her he was at a conference.
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In happier times: Silvio Berlusconi with his wife Veronica Lario. Lario claims she is fed up of Silvio's philandering ways and wants a divorce. |
"It was the umpteenth lie. Better to finally respect myself, better to divorce," Lario said in the book titled Veronica's Way, which hit the bookstores Wednesday.
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"I cannot condemn myself to be his wetnurse and I cannot stop him from making himself ridiculous before the world."
Lario publicly demanded a divorce in early May from her husband of 19 years, accusing him of "frequenting minors."
Berlusconi has denied any indecent relationship with Letizia Noemi, whose 18th birthday party he attended in April and to whom he gave a 6,000 euro (Rs 4.15 lakh) necklace as a gift. He has denied that anything "spicy" happened between them.
"I think that I have no choice but to separate...He would tell me another lie and this time I could not stand it," Lario says in the book by journalist Maria Latella.
Lario spoke to Latella in the spring, before another scandal broke over allegations that Berlusconi spent the night with call-girl Patrizia D'Addario in his Rome residence in November.
While the "sexgate" scandal has excited the foreign press, opinion polls show many Italians consider it a private matter and it has done little to dent Berlusconi's high popularity, despite the worst economic downturn since World War II.
Lario said, however, his transgressions threatened to overshadow his political legacy. The self-made billionaire is Italy's longest-serving post-war prime minister.
"What most displeases me is that a man like Silvio could have betrayed himself," Lario said.
"He has done so much, conquered so much, and today they talk about him for things which make you forget what he really was."
Lario, Berlusconi's second wife, met him in 1980 and bore him three children before they married a decade later.
