I call Silvio my Daddy because he's so sweet: The 18-year-old lingerie model breaks her silence over the Italian PM

By Daphne Barak
Updated: 05:20 EDT, 7 September 2009

The villa Santa Chiara, with its marble floors and white leather furniture, is a cut above the usual gaudy restaurants plying their trade around the Naples ring road.

Even so, few of the drivers speeding by late one Sunday night in April would have thought to stop to gaze beyond the fountains and terracotta plant pots on
the terrace outside.

What they missed was a truly curious sight. It is rare indeed that Silvio Berlusconi, Prime Minister of the Italian Republic, the third richest man in the country, finds himself guest of honour amid the teenagers and ageing relatives at a suburban coming-of-age.

The seat of power: Noemi Letizia last week. The 18-year-old insists she is not to blame for Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's marital woes

That decision to attend the 18th birthday party of his young friend Noemi Letizia was certainly ill-judged and possibly fateful.

Since their unlikely relationship emerged, he has been linked with a never-ending series of models, television starlets and escort girls, some of whom have been offered positions in the European Parliament with his Freedom party.

A prostitute armed with tape recordings has made damaging allegations that refuse to go away.

But it is his association with Noemi, a slender would-be actress and lingerie model, that has proved the greatest problem for the 72-year-old media tycoon.

He is unable to shake off speculation that he is Noemi’s lover, father or even grandfather. More damning still in the eyes of the Italian public, it has prompted Berlusconi’s 53-year-old wife Veronica Lario to file for divorce, stating caustically that he ‘associates with minors and is ill’.

Yet the woman at the heart of it all seems curiously unshaken by the scandal now engulfing the man she calls ‘Papi’ or Daddy, content to soak up attention from the world’s photographers while keeping her counsel.

Now, after four months of silence, she has attacked her critics – including Berlusconi’s daughter Barbara – and denied any hint of impropriety with the older man.

Bad blood: Berlusconi and his estranged wife Veronica Lario

Speaking exclusively to me in an hour-long interview to be broadcast by Sky TV in Italy tonight and CBS TV in America later this week, Noemi is adamant that she is not the cause of the Berlusconis’ matrimonial problems.

Indeed she insists, with a confidence beyond her years, that their marriage must have been fragile by the time her friendship with the prime minister was revealed.

'It is a big scandal but the reality is different,’ she says. ‘I would like to correct it because there is so much disinformation. It would be better if people used their brains and thought a little bit.

‘Anyone can see I am not the reason for the divorce. How can an 18-year-old’s birthday party ruin a marriage? If this is the case, what kind of marriage could it be? I have nothing to do with it. What Veronica has said does not bother me. These are her own family problems. I should not be blamed for them.’

Italian voters have been transfixed by almost every aspect of the unlikely friendship between the Letizia family and Berlusconi since it first came to light four months ago.

What is not in doubt is that he posed for photographs with guests at the party and presented Noemi with an extravagant £5,000 gold and diamond necklace.

Noemi was more than happy to show the jewellery to Press photographers the following day.

Exclusive: Noemi and journalist Daphne Barak

The rest, however, is mysterious. How, for example, does her father Benedetto – a small businessman with a perfume shop in Portici, an obscure town near Naples, and a modest property portfolio – come to be a long-standing friend of the wealthy Berlusconi, who boasts controlling interests in television stations, newspapers and a range of other media concerns?

Why does Noemi’s parents’ explanation of their acquaintance (through local politics) differ from Berlusconi’s (that Benedetto had been a driver for former prime minister Bettino Craxi)?

There may be another, simpler explanation. It was claimed in an interview given by Noemi’s ex-boyfriend, 22-year-old Gino Flaminio, that Berlusconi first showed an interest after her modelling book was left in his office.

Noemi had gone to Milan for a screen test to be a weather girl. Berlusconi rang her directly, Flaminio has claimed, asking questions about her schooling and giving her advice.

There is no doubt about the strength of their friendship now. Noemi is said to keep a signed photograph of Berlusconi in a silver frame in her bedroom. She and her mother were pictured as guests at the Christmas party of AC Milan, the football club owned by Berlusconi.

Yet, to many, the origins of their acquaintance are still unclear. Noemi will say only that she has known ‘Silvio’ as a family friend for many years and that she has visited his homes in Rome and Sardinia. 

Ladies who lunch: Noemi and Daphne enjoy a motorboat trip in Italy

‘When my father visited Silvio, he used to take me with him,’ she says.

‘So I have known Silvio for as long as I can remember. My father took me when I was little. It happened a lot. But for me it was a normal thing. It wasn’t as if Silvio was an extraordinary person for me.

‘In fact, when I was a little girl, I gave him the nickname that everybody knows him by now. Because I am sweet, I like to give nicknames to people whom I love. So I gave one to Silvio because he is sweet. It is to show affection.’

Berlusconi’s arrival at her birthday party was unexpected, she said. It is an account supported by claims that the prime minister had waited on board his private jet for an hour at Naples airport, considering whether or not to attend – and that he did so against the wishes of his advisers.

‘I really didn’t know anything about it. It was a surprise for me, for everybody,’ says Noemi. ‘My father called him because they are friends. It is just a relationship between two families, between two fathers.

'I was simply caught in between. Nobody did anything wrong.  My family and his family have been upset by all the stories. They [journalists] invented stories about our relationship and made it look unhealthy. All of us feel disappointed.’

While Berlusconi’s gift to her was spectacular, his appearance at the party was low-key and without fuss, she says.

‘Silvio brought me the gift that everybody knows about. It is very, very beautiful. Really, a nice gift.

‘He was at our table, having dinner. Then he had to go because he had work commitments. Maybe it is not normal to have someone from the local council and the president [prime minister] as friends,’ she adds.

‘But I don’t think it is fair to attack an 18-year-old girl. Some of these attacks were strong. I am very disappointed by the behaviour of those adults who did not think twice before they went after an 18-year-old.’

Noemi is critical, too, of Berlusconi’s 25-year-old daughter, Barbara, who has told Vanity Fair magazine that she was ‘astounded’ by her father’s interest in the young woman and that she herself had ‘never frequented elderly men’.

Noemi described the comments as ‘naughty’ and ‘nonsensical’. She says: ‘She should have understood that there was no need to talk that way and to say such things about a young girl. She is an adult. She is a mother. But I am sure that she is a good person.’

The past few months have done nothing to whet Noemi’s appetite for politics. ‘I am usually not interested in politics,’ she says. ‘I mean to say that politicians should be judged according to what they do for the people.

‘Will I vote for Silvio? Of course. But not because he is a friend of my father. He is a very funny guy. A good person. He knows his business. And he is a leader because he has such a beautiful personality.’

For now, Berlusconi remains popular with the Italian voters, but he has been made to work hard to counter the complaints about his conduct. He recently made a late-night visit to the Vatican in an apparent attempt to patch up relations.

This followed an attack on his ‘immoral behaviour’ by Avvenire, the official newspaper of the Catholic Church in Italy.

Then, last week, Avvenire editor Dino Boffo stepped down from his position, complaining about what have been termed ‘gay smears’ printed by the Berlusconi-owned Il Giornale newspaper.

Noemi, meanwhile, has taken the ordeal in her stride. In recent weeks, she has been photographed on board a yacht in Sardinia, drinking champagne from a bottle, wearing just a skimpy bikini. She was also snapped on holiday in Capri.

Indeed, she admits that the publicity surrounding her relationship with Berlusconi might even help her to secure a career as an actress. Above all else, she says, she would like to work in America.

‘My life has changed. The day after my birthday I saw my picture in the newspapers. I was stunned,’ she says. ‘I saw my pictures every day – in newspapers, on websites, on TV. The paparazzi are following me everywhere. At the beginning I had to get used to it. But now I find it quite amusing. It is fun, although my privacy is gone.’

Did Berlusconi apologise to her or to her father for what she has been through?

‘He had nothing to apologise for,’ she says. ‘We did nothing wrong. He didn’t cause anything. It was caused by others. I repeat, they have transformed a personal relationship into such a malicious story. So many bad things have been said about me, about everyone.

‘I also want to highlight one more thing. Some papers have said that I have lots of boyfriends. But I am single. I repeat again, I am single.’

Her friends, she says, have mostly stood by her. ‘Those who are my sincere friends have remained and will remain in the shadows, supporting me. These people are my close friends. They have chosen to remain quiet and be there for me.

‘These people are still very proud of me because they know me and they know that I am a girl who deserves so much from life.

‘But there are also the jealous ones. Unfortunately in this world there is lots of jealousy and malice. I have suffered a lot during the past month. I have matured a lot.’

And she insists: ‘Since I was little, my goal has always been to become an actress. Actually, I studied to become an actress.

‘For years I did some small parts in the theatre. Recently I even did a small role in a film. Now I feel I am ready for my film career. The publicity gives me an extra chance. I am going to make the best of it by being persistent.’