Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Friday that she had split from her partner Andrea Giambruno, who works as a TV journalist and has been criticized for sexist comments in recent weeks.
Last month Ms Meloni told reporters she should not be judged for her partner’s comments and had no intention of answering questions about his behavior in the future.
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 made the defense of the traditional family one of the hallmarks of its politics.
“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Ms. Meloni wrote on her accounts on social networks. “Our ways have changed for some time and the moment has come to accept such a thing”, she added.
Ms Meloni said she would not be distracted by the difficulties in her private life, adding that “all those hoping to weaken her by hitting me on her domestic affairs” would not succeed.
Pollster Antonio Noto says the move would probably improve Ms Meloni’s standing in the eyes of the majority of the electorate.
“With what she did today, she has probably created a stronger bond with Italians,” he said, noting that most of the comments on social networks have been in her favor.
Ms Meloni and Mr Giambruno, who met in a TV studio in 2014, have a seven-year-old daughter.
Mr Giambruno, 42, is the host of a program broadcast on the Mediaset television network, part of the media group owned by the heirs of the late Silvio Berlusconi, the former prime minister and ally of Ms Meloni.
This week, another current affairs satirical TV program on Mediaset aired video footage of Mr Giambruno using vulgar language towards a female colleague, touching himself and flirting with her while asking her rhetorically: “Why don’t you have I met you before?!.
In a second audio recording broadcast on Thursday, he was heard saying he was in a relationship with someone and telling female colleagues they could only work with him if they engaged in “sexual intercourse” in the group.
The TV journalist was widely criticized in August for comments that were interpreted by many as victim-blaming following a gang-rape case.
Mr. Giambruno himself has not yet made any comment on the matter. Mediaset said later on Friday that he had agreed with the company not to be part of the program next week.
A person with knowledge of the matter said that Mediaset was investigating whether the journalist had violated its internal code of conduct.
Marco Furfaro of the opposition Democratic Party said Giambruno’s comments were “pure chauvinism and sexism… unspeakable filth”.