Veronica Lario, wife of Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is determined to proceed with divorce proceedings against her husband.
Her three children Luigi, Barbara and Eleanora pleaded for their mother to reconsider, but she is moving ahead with a cold and unfazed purpose.
"He frequents minors, he is not well and he is not real."
I am not aware nor do I know of any wife of any billionaire who would have the burning balls to say that publicly. My many gorgeous hats off to her.
From a purely pecuniary point of view, if Veronica had not asked for a legal separation followed by a looming battle ( hopefully behind the scenes ) for a divorce after 20 years of marriage, she would automatically under the laws of succession have a right to 25% of Silvio's patrimony. The five children, two by a first wife and three by Veronica would each get 10%. It doesn't take a genius in Physics to calculate that should Berlusconi die someday, she and her three children would have 55% of his Empire. She has decided to give up her 25%. But - she is not going to tell Silvio to stuff it. She will do battle so that her children will receive her share. Will Silvio agree? I doubt he has the stamina for a prolonged fight. This is an election year. Timing is very important. Veronica used to be an actress on the stage. No one understands timing better than an actress of her calibre.
Those who say money isn't everything are usually those who have never had it. For those who live and wallow in it, more often than not it is a curse. It takes discipline, a deep sense of spirituality and religion, culture and a well-formed childhood for a billionaire to behave in what an expert of human behavior would define as "a halfway decent attitude and comportment."
I have personally met more poor kind people than rich ones. Few of the men and women choking in money whom I have met in the course of my life were reasonably well-adjusted people nor did they even possess a smidgin of joy or even common decency. Please don't even mention Bill and Melinda Gates with their pasikat - show-off foundation. We shall tackle that one on another occasion.
When the matriarch Dona Esperanza, my grandmother was alive the members of my clan behaved in a humane, compassionate and generous manner. Everything seemed to rapidly tumble downhill after her death.
Veronica is descended from a family of fighters Her uncles, grandfather and father fought the National Socialists and the Fascists as heroic partisans. The pathetic figure of a billionaire husband ill with prostate cancer and who knows what else is not going to make her lose her famous phlegm. In a way, she cannot help feeling compassion for the sorry state her husband is in.
There is no doubt that Berlusconi changed. Billions inevitably and fatally have that power over humans. I remember him as candid, natural, kind, understanding, brilliant and quick witted. I hosted a radio and television show in Florence "Ciao Baby." He owned the radio and television station. We are talking about the early 80's. He had accumulated several millions by then. What can I say? Silvio was a delight to deal with as a person and as a boss.
What happened?????
There is a beautiful painting of Henry the VIII, the Tudor King of England. When I last saw it, the work by Holbein the Younger was in the British Museum. He was young, handsome, body beautiful, charismatic, his blue eyes limpid and his mouth sensuous. He exuded a physique du role unmatched by any other European Ruler.
What happened?????
I could go on ad infinitum.
Veronica will fight for her children. She won't accept their role in their father's Empire to be any less in percentages or in importance to the other two elder children by his first wife.
For years she has been living in a separate Villa from Silvio. The parties and the orgies became unbearable. She is a seeker of Knowledge, Beauty, Culture. I would venture to say that she has grown and developed into an intellectual. She is a sort of mother Earth to her children and to her grandchild.
When a woman like Veronica draws a line in the sand and says, "enough is enough," we had better believe her.
Author's Note: Observe the breathtaking sapphire necklace and earrings Veronica is imperiously sporting to match her blue eyes. Those sapphires must be about 15 carats each. The pendant is probably closer to thirty carats. Brava. Better to spend the lolly on gems instead of derivatives or other rubbish.
She has referred to the gals/women he was considering presenting on his party's list as candidates for the European Parliament as "Political refuse." Ciarpame politico in Italian. It's a diplomatic way of saying scum.
