“We are friends and we love each other” –

On her first year as a single mother, after separating from her partner Andrea Giambruno, Giorgia Meloni answers ‘Chi’ with her usual frankness. «The most frequent question Ginevra asks me is: ‘Mom, why did you choose this job?’. I think she understands in broad terms that what I do is important, but not enough to consider it right that that job takes away my time with her. When she came back from China she wrote me a note in which she told me that every time she blows out the candles she expresses the desire to spend more time with me. It made me feel very guilty. Usually people say that it’s not a question of the quantity of time you spend with your children, but of the quality. I think that’s true in the abstract, but not in the concrete. Children want, rightly, for you to be there when something happens that excites them, because happiness needs to be shared».

“With children,” she continues, “you never know if you’re making the right choice. Being a parent is a job that no one feels prepared for, even if deep down we all are. We ask ourselves questions, we feel eternally guilty, and children, in their naivety, are able to simply tell you the phrase that makes you happier than anything else in the world and the one that destroys you. Ginevra is like that too. When Andrea and I separated, it wasn’t easy for her either, obviously. She’s very close to both of us. For a long time she pretended nothing was wrong with us, but I know she cried when we weren’t seeing her. It made my heart beat like a peanut. Fortunately, Andrea, who remains the best father I could wish for my daughter, and I have maintained a good relationship. When we can, we spend time together with Ginevra. I think it’s important to make children understand that a separation doesn’t necessarily have to trigger a conflict between parents and that children shouldn’t be forced to choose between mom and dad. It’s not always easy, I realize, but when it’s possible, it’s useful to do so.”

Then the Prime Minister talks about the summer holidays: «The three of us will also take a few days of vacation together with a group of friends and their children. For Ginevra. But also because we are still friends and we love each other. We both see how happy she is when she doesn’t have to divide herself between one and the other, and even if our separation is definitive, we will always spend happy time together, as many other families with separated parents do – Meloni concludes».