The Top 10 Everything of 2009

The Italian Prime Minister began courting Lario after seeing her perform topless in a Milan theater in 1980. By the time they wed 10 years later, he had divorced his first wife and Lario had given him three children. But in May, Europe's longest-suffering First Lady filed for divorce after it emerged that Berlusconi, 73, had attended the 18th birthday party of a lingerie model who calls him papi. "I cannot stay with a man who frequents minors," Lario wrote in a letter to left-leaning newspaper La Repubblica. Lario, 53, also criticized her husband's reported attempts to send showgirls to the European Parliament and claimed that he had missed their two sons' 18th birthday parties. It promises to be an ugly divorce. Lario demanded maintenance payments of $65 million a year; Berlusconi, whose media empire is estimated at $13 billion, reportedly offered her about $4.5 million. She's got fresh fuel for her case. On Nov. 24, a 42-year-old escort published a memoir describing her alleged dalliances with Berlusconi titled Enjoy, Prime Minister.