Rome, Jan. 31 (Reuters): The wife of Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi forced him to make a public apology today for sexist quips that outraged her so much she published an open letter scorning him in a leading newspaper.

Berlusconi told some women at a TV awards dinner last week that “if I wasn’t already married I would marry you right away”, and “with you I’d go anywhere”, she wrote.

Veronica, Berlusconi’s second wife and mother of three, said she decided to make her marital spat public after being refused an apology in private.

Late in the day, Italy’s richest man went public, saying: “Here I am, saying I’m sorry. I was recalcitrant in private.... Challenged in public, the temptation to give in to you is strong. I can’t resist.”