Italian football legend, Francesco Totti’s ex-wife has spoken publicly for the first time following their divorce.
Totti and Ilary Blasi, who married in 2005 on national TV and welcomed three children together, separated last year.
Blasi, who had been accused by Totti of being unfaithful, has now decided to come out to tell her version of events on the breakdown of their marriage.
‘I spent a year and a half observing and understanding what had happened. I have read and listened to all the different points of view and opinions. But it was my story and I always put my face in everything I did.
So this time it seemed good to me too say it,’ Blasi said on Italian TV chat show, Verissimo.
‘Francesco has always been jealous of me, his jealousy was nothing new.’
The former couple established themselves as one of the most popular couples in Italy having met in 2001 and then been married for 17 years.
‘It is not true that I was the first to betray,’ Totti told Marca last year.
‘I said I was not going to speak and I did not, but I have read too many hoaxes in recent weeks. Some have even made my children suffer.’
In her TV appearance, she added: ‘He is the father of my children. Maybe he was confused, scared, maybe it was a route of easier escape, but nothing like what we feel these days.
‘Other betrayals? Probably yes, but I have no proof. In my heart, now I say yes.
‘I tried every means to save this marriage and did what a wife and mother should do. But it didn’t work.’
Their marriage deteriorated after Blasi hired a private investigator to track her husband following her belief that he was being unfaithful.
A Netflix documentary, ‘Unico’, explains how Blasi came to know the relationship between Totti and his new girlfriend Noemi Bocchi.
It transpired that Blasi learned of their relationship through a play date her daughter Isabel had had. They would separate soon after.
It has been a tit-for-tat last 12 to 18 months amid the divorce settlement.
Things quickly descended into allegations of theft last year as Totti accused Blasi of ‘running off’ with his Rolex watches – and as a result, he is said to have promised to keep her expensive items under lock and key until they were returned.
Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he said: ‘What was I supposed to do? I hid the bags, hoping for an exchange.’
The Times reported he also has £3,500 worth of his wife’s designer shoes in his possession.
He also accused Ilary’s father of helping his daughter squirrel away the watches.
