Andrea Giambruno and Giorgio Meloni are not married and have been long-term partners. The couple have a seven-year-old daughter.

Rome, Italy: Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni on Friday announced separation from longtime partner Andrea Giambruno. Meloni was in a relationship with Giambruno, a journalist by profession, for 10 years.

“My relationship with Andrea Giambruno, which lasted almost 10 years, ends here,” Giorgio Meloni posted on her social media account on X.

“Our paths have diverged for some time, and the time has come to acknowledge it,” the 46-year-old Italian Prime Minister said.

Giambruno and Meloni are not married and have been long-term partners. They couple have a seven-year-old daughter.

“I thank him for the splendid years we spent together, for the difficulties we went through, and for giving me the most important thing in my life, which is our daughter Ginevra,” she wrote.

Giambruno, who hosts the show “Diario del Giorno” on Italian free-to-air right-leaning television channel Rete 4a had drawn flak when he suggested on his show this August that women could avoid rape by not getting too drunk.

During the show, Giambruno also agreed with the editor of the rightwing Libero newspaper, Pietro Senaldi, who said, “If you want to avoid rape, above all don’t lose consciousness, keep your wits about you.”

Giambruno and Senaldi’s comments triggered a storm on social media platforms with netizens stating that duo were blaming the victims instead of the perpetrators.

Giorgio Meloni had said after that episode that she should not be judged for comments made by her partner, and that in future she would not answer questions about his behaviour.

Meanwhile, in her statement on X about her split with her partner, the Italian Prime Minister said, “I will defend what we were, I will defend our friendship, and I will defend, at all costs, a seven-year-old girl who loves her mother and loves her father, as I was unable to love mine. I have nothing else to say about this.”

Born in Rome in 1977, Meloni was 15 when she joined the youth wing of the Italian Social Movement (MSI). She met Giambruno, who was born in Milan in 1981, in 2015 when he was working as a writer for a TV show on which Meloni appeared.

(With inputs from agencies)