Italy Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has announced that she is separating from partner Andrea Giambruno after a 10-year-long relationship. Giambruno, a television journalist, has drawn criticism in recent weeks for his sexist comments.
Giambruno is the presenter of a news programme transmitted by Mediaset. Video excerpts of one of his recent shows broadcast off-air show him using foul language, touching his groin, and appearing to make advances to a female colleague. "Why didn't I meet you before?", he asks her.
In another recording, he can be heard allegedly telling female colleagues that they could work for him if they take part in group sex.
"Do you know that (name redacted) and I are having an affair? All of Mediaset knows it and now you do too," he tells the woman, who is also off camera.
"But we're looking for a third person, as we do threesomes. Foursomes too. Would you like to be part of our working group?" he adds.
Last month, Meloni told reporters she should not be judged over Giambruno's remarks and in the future would not answer questions about his behaviour.
Meloni and Giambruno met in a TV studio in 2014 and have a seven-year-old daughter.
The split comes as the 46-year-old prime minister celebrates her first year in office at the head of a right-wing coalition government that has defended the traditional family as one of its policy hallmarks.
"My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here," Meloni wrote on her social media accounts.
"Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it," she added.
She also thanked Giambruno 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".
