Rome:
Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi's second wife, former actress Veronica Lario, is seeking a divorce after 19 years of marriage, citing his reported flirtations with younger women.
Lario confirmed reports Sunday in La Stampa and La Repubblica dailies that she had retained an attorney to begin separation and divorce proceedings against the billionaire media mogul-turned-politician, the ANSA news agency said.
"I was forced to take this step," La Stampa quoted Lario as saying in its Sunday edition.
Berlusconi issued a one-line statement saying, "It's a personal issue that pains me, that is in the private sphere, and which seems necessary not to speak about."
Last week, Lario had publicly voiced outrage over reports that Berlusconi's political party was lining up TV showgirls and starlets as European Parliament candidates.
"The impudence and shamelessness of power offends the credibility of all (women), damages women in general and especially those who have always struggled to defend their rights," Lario had said in a statement to ANSA.
She also lashed out at the premier's reported attendance of an 18-year-old's birthday party in Naples, saying she was surprised "because he never came to the 18th of any of his children, even though he was invited," according to ANSA.