Italian PM Giorgia Meloni splits from controversial partner: Who is Andrea Giambruno?

Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni has announced separation from her partner Andrea Giambruno. The duo, who has a seven-year-old daughter, had been together for nearly a decade.

Meloni’s announcement comes in the wake of Giambruno’s sexist comments in recent weeks made on and off air, reported Reuters.

Who is Andrea Giambruno? What did the Italian PM say about her split?

Who’s Andrea Giambruno?

Born in Milan in 1981, Giambruno is an Italian journalist working as a TV presenter of a news programme for Mediaset.

Part of the MFE media group, Mediaset is owned by the heirs of late Silvio Berlusconi, who was the former Italy PM, as per Reuters.

Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party is a junior partner in the Meloni-led far-right government.

According to an article in the French newspaper Le Monde, Giambruno joined TV when he was 22 years old and studying at the Catholic University of Milan.

He met Meloni in 2015 on the set of a TV programme where he was a writer and she was a guest, reported Politico. As per The Guardian, Giambruno had said in an interview about the encounter that Meloni had given him a half-eaten banana, thinking he was her assistant, before going for a show. He called their meeting “love at first sight”.

Giambruno settled in Rome after Meloni became the Italian premier last year, leaving Milan and his Studio Aperto show, as per Le Monde.

He currently hosts the show Diario del Giorno (Daily diary) on Rete 4.

Giambruno’s many controversies

Giambruno’s recent remarks have stirred major controversies, causing political embarrassment for the Italian prime minister in the recent months.

In August, the TV presenter hit the headlines for his statements on rape where he appeared to blame the victim.

“If you go dancing, you have every right to get drunk … but if you avoid getting drunk and losing your senses, you might also avoid running into certain problems because then you risk finding the wolf,” Giambruno had said on his show, as per Politico.

The remarks which were made following a gang rape case had caused huge outrage.

Italy’s “First Gentleman” had rejected the accusations of victim-blaming, saying he did not justify rape and his words were misinterpreted, noted Politico.

In September, Meloni had come to the defence of her partner. “I think Andrea Giambruno hastily and assertively said something different from what has been interpreted by most,” the Italian PM was quoted as saying by Politico. “In those words, I don’t read ‘if you walk around in a mini skirt they can rape you.’”

She also asked mediapersons not to question her in future over the words of a journalist or judge her for what he says.

As per Le Monde, Giambruno also came under fire for apparently downplaying the effects of climate change. Attacking German health minister Karl Lauterbach in July, who had warned about the extreme heat in the country, Giambruno said on TV: “If you don’t feel well, go home. Go to the Black Forest, you’ll be fine there, won’t you?”

“Heat in the summer isn’t big news,” he had said at the time when temperatures breached records in Italy.

Meloni splits with partner

Before Meloni’s announcement on Friday (20 October), Giambruno was in the limelight for his lewd remarks broadcast on a satirical TV programme.

Mediaset’s news show Striscia la Notizia telecasted a programme on Giambruno this week using backstage clips and audio, reported Associated Press (AP).

In one recording, Giambruno talks about criticisms of his hairstyle before telling his female colleague: “Why didn’t I meet you before?”

He tells a female colleague in another recording that they need another participant on the show. “Let’s have a threesome, even a foursome,” he said, as per The Guardian.

In a more explicit recording, Giambruno is heard asking whether he can “touch his package”, reported Politico.

According to Reuters, in one recording he talked about being in an affair and telling female colleagues they can work with him if they participate in group sex.

Meloni posted a statement on social media announcing her split from the TV presenter, saying their paths had diverged “for some time.”

“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Meloni wrote, as per Reuters. “Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it”, she added.

The Italian PM thanked Giambruno for their relationship and daughter. “And I will defend, at all costs, a 7-year-old girl who loves her mother and loves her father, as I was unable to love mine”.

She also hit out at the media coverage ahead of her statement, blasting “all those who hoped to weaken me by hitting me at home.”

With inputs from agencies