Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi bowed this evening to his wife's demand for a public apology for sexist quips to younger women, saying "the temptation to give in to you is strong. I can't resist".
Earlier in the day Veronica Berlusconi had published an open letter in a leading newspaper after failing to extract a private apology for his comments at a TV awards dinner last week.
Silvio Berlusconi and his wife Veronica Lario
"If I wasn't already married I would marry you right away", Mr Berlusconi had told some women at the dinner, and "with you I'd go anywhere", she wrote.
Veronica, Mr Berlusconi's second wife and mother of three of his children, said his comments had belittled her.
"These are affirmations that I see as damaging to my dignity, affirmations that ... cannot be reduced to jokes," the former actress wrote. "To my husband and to the public man I therefore ask for a public apology, having not received one privately."
The soap-opera enthralled the country, with Italians sounding off on whether they agreed with Veronica - and whether they thought Berlusconi (70) would submit to his wife, 20 years his junior. Late in the day, Italy's richest man did just that.
"Here I am, saying I'm sorry. I was recalcitrant in private, because I am playful but proud too.
"Challenged in public, the temptation to give in to you is strong. I can't resist," said Mr Berlusconi, a media tycoon and former cruise ship crooner.
"So, I beg you, forgive me and accept this public display of a private pride that gives in to your rage as an act of love - just one of many."
The apology played well in Roman Catholic Italy, where even a cardinal said he was moved the family drama.
"It touched my heart," said Cardinal Ersilio Tonini. "I hope this couple knows how to overcome this episode."
It was not the first time Mr Berlusconi's gaffes about women including his wife have got him in trouble.