According to Corriere della Sera, a leading Italian newspaper, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been diagnosed with leukemia.
Berlusconi, an 86-year-old right-wing politician, was admitted to the hospital on Wednesday, April 5, with breathing problems.
When asked about the reports of his ill health, his spokesman, Paolo Russo, said he is “not authorized to give health information, but the Corriere della Sera is the most authoritative Italian newspaper.”
When contacted by the publication, a second spokesperson for the Forza Italia party leader did not deny the report.
The divisive politician was Italy’s prime minister three times, most recently between 2008 and 2011, before being barred from politics for six years following a tax fraud conviction.
Berlusconi returned to the forefront of Italian politics in 2022, when he was elected to the Senate to represent the northern municipality of Monza.
According to the press office of his Forza Italia party, he was hospitalized in 2021 for treatment of the symptoms of long Covid-19. He was also hospitalized the previous year after contracting the coronavirus, and he had heart surgery in 2016 to replace an aortic valve.