In reading the New York Times article, remember that Veronica Lario Berlusconi, prior to marrying previously twice married Silvio, who brought with him the public reputation of being a "womanizer" ( a man who puts smiles on many women's faces), and therefore his actions should NOT have come as a surprise, but instead an expected part of the "package".

Also,Veronica was previously merely an actress in low budget films, and did not give up any great career to marry this Billionaire. with ALL the "perks".
But more stunning is that Veronica had a well publicized Affair with the Mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari, and has NO Moral High ground. 

In fact it generated one of the greatest Put Down's EVER, to his wife and her lover by stating in October 2002, during a press conference with Danish prime minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Berlusconi said he ought to introduce his wife to Rasmussen, "the best-looking prime minister in Europe and certainly more handsome than Cacciari". 

In a revised edition of a biography, Veronica Lario said she had no choice but to leave Berlusconi after newspapers said he had attended an aspiring model's 18th birthday party. He told her he was at a conference.

"It was the umpteenth lie. Better to finally respect myself, better to divorce," Lario said in the book titled "Veronica's Way," which hit the bookstores Wednesday.

"I cannot condemn myself to be his wetnurse and I cannot stop him from making himself ridiculous before the world."

Lario publicly demanded a divorce in early May from her husband of 19 years, accusing him of "frequenting minors."

Berlusconi has denied any indecent relationship with Letizia Noemi, whose 18th birthday party he attended in April and to whom he gave a 6,000 euro (8,500) necklace as a gift. He has denied that anything "spicy" happened between them.

"I think that I have no choice but to separate...He would tell me another lie and this time I could not stand it," Lario says in the book by journalist Maria Latella.

Lario, Berlusconi's second wife, met him in 1980 and bore him three children before they married a decade later. She said that for many years she had silently endured Berlusconi's behavior with other women.

"I've reached the end of the road. Ten years ago I was not ready but now I can say: I am leaving this man."

Lario spoke to Latella in the spring, before another scandal broke over allegations that Berlusconi spent the night with call-girl Patrizia D'Addario in his Rome residence in November.

Berlusconi, notorious in diplomatic circles for a string of gaffes, asked his wife's forgiveness after Lario said in a public letter to a newspaper that he had wounded her dignity.

While the "sexgate" scandal has excited the foreign press, opinion polls show many Italians consider it a private matter and it has done little to dent Berlusconi's high popularity, despite the worst economic downturn since World War II.

Lario said, however, his transgressions threatened to overshadow his political legacy. The self-made billionaire is Italy's longest-serving post-war prime minister.

"What most displeases me is that a man like Silvio could have betrayed himself," Lario said. "He has done so much, conquered so much, and today they talk about him for things which make you forget what he really was."
 

The ANNOTICO Reports Can be Viewed (With Archives) on:
[Formerly Italy at St Louis]