Premier Silvio Berlusconi has promised to further explain his relationship with an 18-year-old woman at the heart of a political and personal scandal.
In an interview aired on Monday with CNN, Berlusconi denied that he lied about his relationship with Noemi Letizia and said he merely tried to protect her and her family's privacy.
Berlusconi's wife, Veronica Lario, cited the premier's presence at Letizia's 18th birthday party in Naples in announcing a few weeks ago that she would divorce the 72-year-old.
The premier has said he knows Letizia's father through decades-old Socialist Party circles and that he attended the birthday party because he happened to be in Naples that day.
Opposition demands for clarification heated up on Sunday after the left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica published an interview with Letizia's ex-boyfriend, Gino Flaminio.
Repubblica quoted Flaminio as saying Berlusconi had invited Letizia and several other young women to his Sardinian villa for a week over New Year's, and described phone calls he listened in on between Berlusconi and Letizia in which he said the premier asked her about her schooling, her interests and what her parents do.
Berlusconi told CNN there was nothing "negative" about the relationship.
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