Berlusconi’s ex-wife Veronica Lario in row over tabloid’s portrayal of women

A row over the way older women are portrayed in the media has erupted in Italy, where the ex-wife of Silvio Berlusconi has emerged as a crusader against female objectification.

Veronica Lario, who left the former prime minister in 2009 after nearly 20 years of marriage, reacted with fury after the celebrity gossip magazine Chi published a spread of paparazzi photographs of her under various unflattering headlines, claiming she had put on weight and asking "experts" what kind of plastic surgery could help her combat the ravages of the ageing process.

The fact that Chi is published by Mondadori, controlled by the Berlusconi family holding company Fininvest and regularly attacks the centre-right leader's enemies, only served to rub salt in the wounds.

Lario, who is reported to have pushed for a divorce settlement of more than €500 million (HK$5.31 billion), denounced the Chi feature as "an unacceptable attack" that wounded not only her but all women "who, like me, want to age without subjugating themselves to the 'young at all costs' stereotype".

The 57-year-old told Il Messagger, "I am almost 60 years old; probably, according to current obsessive standards, I am not ageing well. I don't attend to my waistline or the wrinkles on my neck. … Is that sufficient motive for suggesting that I - and, I assume, all my peers - go to a plastic surgeon?"

The interview, published on Sunday, was met with support from women across the political spectrum, including from within Berlusconi's Forza Italia party.