Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has passed away at age 86. Berlusconi had a career rife with sex scandals and corruption allegations. He was suffering from chronic leukaemia and was being treated at the San Raffaele Hospital in Milan.
Known for his flamboyant lifestyle, Berlusconi first came to office in 1994 and led four governments until 2011. He was also a businessman, who created Italy's largest media company. Berlusconi, who led the Forza Italia party, was also convicted of tax fraud.
Born to a middle-class family in Milan in 1936, Berlusconi was into the business of property development before going on to found Italy's largest commercial broadcaster, Mediaset. He also owned AC Milan football club between 1986 and 2017.
Berlusconi founded the centre-right liberal-conservative political party Forza Italia in 1993. a year later, Berlusconi was elected prime minister-- he hadn't held a government office before that. He was elected in 2001 and again in 2008 but was forced to step down in 2011 amid an acute debt crisis.
Berlusconi served a year doing part-time community service at a residential home in Milan after being convicted of tax fraud in 2012. Post this he was banned from contesting in elections. The ban was lifted in 2018. in 2019, Berlusconi was elected to the European Parliament.
Berlusconi is survived by five children. He was married twice. First to Carla Elvira Dall'Oglio in 1965, then to Veronica Lario in 1990. His marriage to Lario ended in 2014. He was then in a relationship with Francesca Pascale. In 2022, he entered a 'symbolic marriage' with 32-year-old Marta Fascina. Fascina has been an MP in the lower house since 2018 in Forza Italia party.