Former Prime Minister Berlusconi: From “partying to the max” to fighting in the hospital bed

Berlusconi’s health has deteriorated significantly in recent years, with heart surgery in 2016 and several hospitalisations since contracting COVID-19 three years ago. He was admitted to intensive care in April at the San Raffaele hospital’s cardiology unit after experiencing breathing difficulties.

Mr Berlusconi had previously survived prostate cancer, which he described as a months-long nightmare. However, he said his battle with COVID-19 in 2020 was the “most dangerous challenge” of his life.

Cựu Thủ tướng Berlusconi: Từ những “bữa tiệc tới bến” đến cuộc chiến trên giường bệnh - Ảnh 1.

Mr Berlusconi's health has deteriorated significantly in recent years. Photo: Reuters

The former prime minister was discharged from hospital last month after being treated for a lung infection related to chronic leukemia. He was discharged on May 19 after 45 days in hospital.

According to aides, the tycoon was taken back to the San Raffaele hospital in Milan on June 9 for a scheduled test related to leukemia.

On June 12, the media reported that the controversial former prime minister of Italy had passed away at the age of 86.

Cựu Thủ tướng Berlusconi: Từ những “bữa tiệc tới bến” đến cuộc chiến trên giường bệnh - Ảnh 2.

Media wait outside the hospital on June 12. Photo: Reuters

Billionaire businessman Berlusconi founded Italy's largest media company Mediaset before transforming the country's political landscape and facing a series of legal and sexual scandals.

Mr Berlusconi is known for his notoriously lavish sex parties and once owned Italian football club AC Milan. He was also Italy's richest man for a decade.

Casting himself as a success story of modern Italy and backed by television and newspapers, Mr Berlusconi, dubbed "Il Cavaliere" (The Knight), won his first election in 1994.

Silvio Berlusconi's stints as prime minister were not consecutive. In 2011, he was forced to resign due to mounting debt in Italy - the eurozone's third-largest economy - during the financial crisis.

In the eyes of his critics, Mr Berlusconi is a "tax-dodging playboy" who uses his vast media empire to advance his political career and then abuses his power to protect his business interests.

Cựu Thủ tướng Berlusconi: Từ những “bữa tiệc tới bến” đến cuộc chiến trên giường bệnh - Ảnh 4.

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Miss Italy 2008 Miriam Leone. Photo: Wenn

Much of his life has been spent in lawsuits and court cases related to his notoriously lavish sex parties involving young girls. The lawsuits were only settled in February.

He claimed in 2021 that he had been through 86 trials. The 86-year-old former prime minister has never been to jail and successfully appealed fraud and corruption convictions early in his political career. He has long been suspected of having mafia ties, which he denies.

Mr Berlusconi's Forza Italia party is currently part of the coalition government of Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni. Although he is the party's president, he has largely disappeared from public view in recent months.

Although he himself had no role in the government, his death could destabilize Italian politics in the coming months.

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