The Telegraph

By Nick Squires, Rome

A war of words has broken out between Francesca Pascale and Michelle Bonev, a glamorous Bulgarian actress and a friend of the former prime minister.

Two days after she painted a picture of pre-marital bliss with Silvio Berlusconi, an unseemly cat fight has broken out between his 28-year-old fiancee and one of his female admirers.

Michelle Bonev, a glamorous Bulgarian actress and a friend of the former prime minister, described his relationship with Francesca Pascale as "a sham".

"Many times Silvio asked me to take her away from Arcore (his mansion near Milan), saying that she was a bad person and she was blackmailing him," the Bulgarian model wrote on her blog.

"Silvio only decided to make the engagement public so that he could continue to have fun with her and her 'friends' and so as not to be judged badly by public opinion. But he's ended up with a girlfriend who is bossy and without scruples."

Miss Bonev, who after her career in films and television now works as a producer, even claimed that Miss Pascale is a lesbian.

The Bulgarian said that she herself had a relationship with the former shop assistant from Naples, describing her as "much more than a friend".

"I can no longer live with these falsehoods," she said, in reference to the public image of Miss Pascale and Mr Berlusconi being in love.

The allegations prompted a furious response from Miss Pascale, who threatened legal action.

The claims were "defamatory and without any basis in truth" she said through Mr Berlusconi's lawyers.

But Miss Bonev was defiant. "If it comes to a legal case, I'm ready to repeat everything in front of a judge," she said.

Miss Pascale, who is hoping for a marriage proposal from her 77-year-old boyfriend, described her new life with Mr Berlusconi at his palazzo in Rome in an interview this week with Oggi, an Italian weekly magazine.

She complained that she had been unfairly portrayed as an opportunistic "hyena" who had chased away the models and alleged call-girls from Mr Berlusconi's "bunga bunga" entourage.

She also said she had set about reordering his household, conducting a "spending review" in which she found that Mr Berlusconi was being massively over-charged for catering supplies.

His staff were paying 80 euros a kilo for green beans – more than 16 times the going rate.

The ex-premier's caterers were also purchasing huge quantities of expensive fresh fish, despite the fact that he does not even like it.

"Huge crates of fish were arriving, even though they all know not only that he doesn't eat fish, but he hates the smell when it is being cooked," Miss Pascale said.

*The title has been changed by Novinite.com

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