Pavarotti's widow files lawsuit
2007-11-26 15:57
Rome - Luciano Pavarotti's widow has filed a lawsuit against two friends of the late tenor seeking damages for €30m, saying she has been defamed by their comments that the marriage was on the rocks.
Nicoletta Mantovani filed the lawsuit last month, after warning that any further comments would not be tolerated, her lawyer said on Monday.
Quickly following Pavarotti's death September 6, Italian media began carrying reports citing friends close to the tenor that Pavarotti had been unhappy in the marriage and that Mantovani was fighting over Pavarotti's estate with his grown daughters from his first marriage.
"Since the comments did not cease - and were in fact reiterated -Mantovani had no choice but to file the lawsuit," lawyer Anna Maria Bernini said, confirming weekend reports in the small daily L'Informazione, based in Pavarotti's hometown of Modena.
"She is doing it to protect her sense of respectability - privately for the sake of her daughter and the memory of the maestro, publicly for her image and any future professional activity," Bernini said.
Mantovani had a daughter with Pavarotti - Alice, who is 4. The tenor also had four daughters from his first marriage.
Two long time friends
The two people named in the lawsuit are two long time Pavarotti friends: Franca Corfini Strata, wife of the singer's dietician and Lidia La Marca, wife of conductor Leone Magiera, who often performed with Pavarotti.
Mantovani is seeking €15m in damages from each of the women in lawsuits filed in Modena and Bologna, where the two women live, Bernini said, adding that she intends to donate any award to charity.
No hearing has been set.
Neither Corfini Strata nor La Marca could be immediately reached for comment.
In a newspaper interview following Pavarotti's death, La Marca was quoted as saying the tenor had complained that Mantovani was isolating him and was only thinking about money.
"'Over the last years Nicoletta has been tormenting me, she makes me live alone,"' La Marca quoted Pavarotti as saying from his hospital bed on August 16, according to the interview with La Stampa.
Money
"'She's constantly thinking about money, she comes over with documents I'm supposed to sign. She threatens not to let me see Alice anymore, and throws fits at me.'"
Both women named in the lawsuit appeared on a popular show on public TV RAI, Porta a Porta, and confirmed their accusations that Mantovani had been isolating Pavarotti.
Last month, Mantovani took to their airwaves herself, saying she felt compelled to set the record straight in the face of the insults against her and her late husband.
Pavarotti, considered the biggest opera star of the late 20th century, died from pancreatic cancer at age 71.
His showmanship and powerful voice made him the most beloved tenor since Caruso and one of the few opera singers to win crossover fame as a popular star.
- AP