Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni Friday announced her separation from long-time partner Andrea Giambruno hours after a TV show broadcast the latter’s lewd remarks he made to female colleagues.
Announcing her split on social media, Meloni said her relationship with Giambruno, “which lasted almost 10 years, ends here. Our paths have been different for some time… it’s time to acknowledge it.”
While the Italian PM didn’t elaborate the reasons, she thanked her journalist male partner for the “wonderful years” they spent together and for giving her “the most important thing” in her life – their daughter Ginevra.
The announcement came hours after a TV show broadcast Giambruno’s explicit off-air remarks, in which in which he appeared to flirt with a female colleague by telling her – “You’re so clever… Why didn’t I meet you sooner?”
In the comments, he is also heard boasting about having an “affair” and asks the women colleague – “Will you join our group, our working group?”
Meloni started dating Giambruno in 2015 and they have a seven-year-old daughter with him. The journalist has not yet to responded to Meloni’s public announcement of separation and his lewd off-air remarks.
This is not the first time Giambruno has found himself in hot waters over his remarks. Earlier this year, he was criticised for his comments on a gang-rape case.
Speaking about the case, the journalist had said, “If you go dancing you have every right to get drunk…But if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness, maybe you would also avoid getting into specific problems because that’s when you find the wolf.”
At the time, the Italian prime minister had defended her partner, saying his words were misinterpreted and asked media not to hold her accountable “for what a journalist says while doing his job”.