On Friday, Giorgia Meloni, the Prime Minister of Italy, announced that she was separating from her partner Andrea Giambruno, the father of her daughter after he was recorded making sexist comments and admitting an affair.
On social media, in a message, Meloni wrote, “My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost ten years, ends here”, saying their paths “have diverged for some time”.
The shocking announcement comes after Giambruno, a television presenter, was seen making overtly sexual and sexist comments to female colleagues off-air on the sidelines of his talk show “Diario del giorno” (Daily Diary) on the Rete 4 commercial station.
He is heard telling a woman who is also off camera, “How do you do, darling? Do you know that (name redacted) and I are having an affair? All of (television company) Mediaset knows it, and now you do too.”
He added in comments broadcast by a different television channel on Tuesday and Thursday, “But we’re looking for a third person, as we do threesomes. Foursomes too. Would you like to be part of our working group?”
Meloni is marking one year in the office this weekend at the head of a right-wing government that strongly defends traditional family values.
She was forced to defend Giambruno in August after he was accused of victim blaming for comments he made about rape on his talk show.
Discussing two gang rapes over the summer, Giambruno, 42, said “if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems and coming across a wolf”.
In her post on Friday, Giorgia Meloni thanked him for “the splendid years we spent together, for the difficulties we went through and for giving me the most important thing in my life, our daughter Ginevra”, who is seven years old.
