Ilary Blasi: The One and Only (2023) Movie Script
[suspenseful music playing]
ONE YEAR AFTER THE SEPARATION
OF ILARY BLASI AND FRANCESCO TOTTI
FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME
ILARY WANTS TO TELL HER STORY
[Ilary] It's such a personal thing,
I just don't... know.
Dunno, I'll just follow my instinct,
what I... what I feel like doing, okay?
[reporter 1 in Italian] The separation
of Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi...
[man 1 in English] It's like
our royal family.
[reporters speaking indistinctly]
[woman 1] I would have bet on them
hands down.
[woman 2] They were the symbol...
MAGICAL WEDDING
...of family, of love.
They were a beautiful couple.
Ilary without Francesco or Francesco
without Ilary was unthinkable.
Too bad it was all going to fall apart.
[news reporters speaking Italian]
[Ilary] Sometimes too much was said.
Sometimes too little was said.
Sometimes false things were said.
Oh wow!
[man] Everybody had something to say
about this story.
Ilary Blasi has almost never spoken.
[Ilary] I'd like to tell you my story.
After 20 years,
I see a different Francesco.
This news breaks.
What is this about?
Who do I believe?
The journalists, or my husband?
I feel guilty.
[in Italian] I am sick and tired of...
[Ilary in English] He was fuming.
A disaster.
He'd never have owned up to it.
I wanted proof.
[chuckles]
She suffered. She suffered a lot.
[journalist in Italian]
Could your relationship
survive an affair by either one of you?
[Ilary] No.
[man in English] Write the title.
- The title?
- [man] Yes.
[Ilary] I couldn't believe...
that the man who had been at my side
for 20 years, half of my life,
had done...
[sniffles]
...such a thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[soccer commentary plays indistinctly]
[reporter 2] Everybody's curious.
They wanna hear Ilary's story.
[Ilary] I have never said a word
about this. Never.
It's the first time I've told my story.
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[switch flicks echoing]
[tense music playing]
SUMMER 2023
[sighs]
[man] Have you felt the need
to clear things up, lately?
To clear up a lot.
Because, you know,
I'm used to... [chuckles]
...all sorts of fake news, or
reporters perhaps trying
to get a scoop or get a like.
So... I'll tell my truth.
So, certainly
Francesco has always been pretty upbeat,
always... smiling, I mean, pretty chilled.
In 20 years, we've never had, um, a fight,
or in 20 years,
I don't remember any big fights with him.
Really, seriously, our relationship
has always been... happy.
[man] Happy in every aspect?
We had sex regularly.
Maybe more than couples
that have been together for 20 years.
And then, this dry spell started.
Our being together...
was sporadic.
[man] When did Francesco start changing?
Early November.
- [man] 2021?
- [Ilary] Yes.
NOV 2021
A DIFFERENT HUSBAND
[Ilary] Suddenly, I started noticing,
let's say, my husband was quieter
than usual, standoffish.
He went out a lot
with an angry look on his face.
Different.
Initially, the first few days,
I just observed. I didn't say anything.
Obviously, eventually, I asked.
But he wouldn't give me any answers.
After a while,
after a month of this attitude,
I kind of started thinking that
he was upset with me.
But it was nothing out in the open.
It was... a feeling.
[bird wings fluttering]
[Ilary] So, I
asked questions.
And all his answers were
vague, muddled.
Meanwhile, our days went by,
and another month had passed.
- You have to... I'll tell you how to do it.
- I don't care, you do it.
Ilary is not an affectionate,
sugary woman...
ILARY'S MOTHER
...the kind who caresses you,
who gives you a little kiss.
However, Ilary has always been there
for Francesco. Always.
[uplifting music playing]
[woman 2] She can manage
very well on her own.
Let's say, before she even mentions
a... an issue to you...
ILARY'S SISTER
...it takes some time.
[Ilary] I'm off.
[woman 3] That's her personality,
how she's always been,
how she'll always be.
ILARY'S SISTER
- [driver] Where to? Okay.
- [Ilary] Parioli.
[Melory] She's never told us anything,
and... from the outside,
we've always seen
a couple with great chemistry.
What am I supposed to talk about?
"My husband seems off?"
"Why?" "What do I know?"
[tense music playing]
[Ilary sighs]
In late January,
I think it was, like, January 28th,
we went out for dinner
at a restaurant in Rome, in Parioli.
JAN 28, 2022
THE DINNER
[Ilary] We have this dinner
with Alessia and her partner
and two other couples,
old friends of ours.
Alessia is my dear friend
who does my hair.
So, in addition to being friends,
we also work together sometimes.
Once the dinner is over, we go out.
Before saying goodbye, we chat a little.
Some smoke a cigarette.
Some don't.
Suddenly, Francesco calls Alessia
and tells her,
"Can you come here for a second?"
He turns to me and says,
"Actually, you come too."
[heeled footsteps clopping]
So I follow him.
We go over, and he says,
"Give me your phone."
So I give him my phone.
He opens Instagram.
He opens a guy's picture.
A profile.
"Do you know this guy?"
And we say, "Yes."
"Have you ever met him?"
And we lie to him.
We say, "No."
Because we sensed
he was pissed off.
[man] Excuse me.
Can you tell me who this guy is?
- Was he good-looking?
- [Ilary] Yes, yes, a handsome guy.
You know, we were a bit stupid.
We enjoyed the funny game.
But it was all very...
friendly, very...
very playful, very amusing.
We were curious about this guy,
who had a somewhat peculiar life...
[man] So, how long did you deny it?
Before admitting...
No, it actually happened in a few seconds,
because as soon as we said,
"No, we've never met him,"
he made it clear that instead he knew
that we had actually met him.
And... and from then on,
it was a disaster.
He was... fuming.
[tense music playing]
[Ilary] He kept repeating
a specific date.
October 11th.
OCT 11, 2021
[Ilary] That's when I understand
that he had taken my phone
because he had
my passcodes and everything.
And he had found a message exchange
between me and Alessia,
where Alessia had been chatting
with this guy
and had arranged to meet him for a coffee.
[ominous music playing]
- [man] Did you indeed have that coffee?
- [Ilary] Yes, of course.
[man] Can you read me those messages?
The texts between you and Alessia.
Yes, I have to get my phone. Wait.
There are voice messages.
Will they be audible? I don't know.
You tell me.
So, wait, I have to backtrack. You know?
October 2021, right?
[man] Oh, yes.
[suspenseful music playing]
OCT 11, 2021
October 11th. Here it is.
Here it is. It starts here.
[Alessia] Great. For the appointment,
we'll have a blowout tomorrow
at eleven o'clock at a salon in Milan.
So you can wash your greasy hair.
I won't have to wash it,
she will. [laughs]
Then we'll go to lunch.
Is that okay with you?
If that's okay, I'll book for 11.
It's on March 22nd anyway,
and then we'll meet up with .
Just coffee or lunch?
I'd say lunch, so he'll pay for it.
[laughs] No, I'm just kidding.
Coffee. But you tell me
if you are okay with the meetup,
with the blowout, it's up to you.
This is my answer. I had a bad...
Wait. I had a bad cold. Listen.
That's fine. Sure, I can't go around
with such greasy hair. Okay.
The blowout at 11 is fine, and then...
The fuck do I know? Call him. See if...
I mean, up to you, Ale.
Either coffee or lunch is fine.
It's up to you.
Call him, maybe he's not even there.
She writes back, "Send me his number."
And I write, "I thought you had it.
"Let me check. Oh, it should be this one."
So, I send her the... the number.
She sends me two screenshots
of her conversation with him.
- [man] Where they arrange to meet?
- Yeah.
She said, "Hi, are you Italian?
Where are you from?"
And he writes, "Hi, yes, I'm Italian."
"So, are you in Milan?"
So Alessia writes, "Yes. Are you?"
And he says, "Yes. Light lunch
or coffee tomorrow? You choose."
So she writes me, "Okay.
He says lunch. How about the Mandarin?"
And this made Francesco crazy.
She said, "More private?"
MORE PRIVATE???
"Let's just invite him to our place."
And she replies, "Or he said
we could go to his house."
I write, "What do you think?
Is that close to the station?"
And she says,
"Yes, his house is close to the station."
"Okay."
We decided to have coffee at his place
because it was more convenient,
and we went with our roller suitcases.
Because we had to catch a train at three.
MILAN CENTRAL STATION
[suspenseful music playing]
[man] How long did you stay for?
[Ilary] Like, 40 minutes.
We chat, we have the coffee,
we smoke a cigarette.
- [lighter flicks]
- [slow exhale]
[man] So, all the change
in Francesco's attitude
that you notice in November
is due to your coffee in October?
[Ilary] Exactly.
I would never have imagined
that he'd come up with this revelation.
I mean, it was inconceivable for me.
I understand him being jealous.
I understand him being pissed off,
maybe feeling deceived,
his trust betrayed.
But in 20 years,
I've never given you a reason to doubt.
You've never opened the door
and found me screwing another man.
For the first time in 20 years,
it's your turn to believe me,
given that in 20 years,
I've always been the one
that had to believe you,
and had to defend you.
Even with Fabrizio Corona.
And the Flavia Vento affair
before getting married.
And he replied...
"Well, I don't know how you managed
all these years."
"I'm not as strong as you are."
"What does that mean, Francesco?"
"Well, that's the way I am."
"I just can't get that coffee
out of my mind."
[tense music playing]
[man] Hold on now.
Don't you get pissed off?
I don't really get pissed off.
In fact, I start feeling guilty.
Because he keeps repeating
that I ruined everything...
that I killed him inside,
that he's dead inside.
[distant sobbing]
"It's your fault."
"You brought this on."
"Why did you have to have that coffee?"
[distant laughter, chatting]
And to be honest,
I actually feel...
[inhales shakily]
...guilty.
[sniffles]
And for a long time,
I felt so guilty.
For having a coffee.
[breathes shakily]
Because I put myself in his shoes.
[solemn music playing]
And, like...
I almost...
I'm not saying I was justifying him,
because I'm not,
but... [sniffles]
...I understood him.
And...
But...
I was talking to him,
I was dealing with... [sniffles]
this, uh,
this... problem.
And he wouldn't give an inch.
[clock ticking]
[distant laughter]
- [sniffles] I'll get a tissue. Excuse me.
- [man] Sure.
Go.
- What, aren't there any tissues?
- How come there aren't any tissues here?
[Ilary chuckles, sniffles]
Who knows?
[man] Here we go.
No, that's... [chuckles]
...a panty liner.
[sniffles, giggling] Come on.
[sweet pop music playing]
[journalist] The Ilary-Totti case
has been all the buzz.
Initially, it was a real psychodrama
that I didn't understand.
JOURNALISIt seemed like a local Roman story to me.
But it grew bigger and bigger.
The New York Times published
dozens of articles on this story.
This story isn't just gossip.
It's a little bit
about the present-day Italy as well.
It's as if they were our royal family.
[in Italian] How wonderful!
[Michele] A love story
to which few can compare.
[birds calling]
[driver] It was a wonderful thing
that Rome was witnessing.
We really thought this couple... No?
[chuckling] I'm being honest.
It would last a lifetime.
It was a certainty.
Yes. They'll always be
two wonderful people, you know?
You are talking about me.
I'm in the car. Why do you have to say...
- [driver] Oh, well...
- [laughs]
[solemn instrumental music playing]
THE ORIGINS
[upbeat music playing]
Okay, come. I'll take you to my mother.
She lives next door.
It's quite a walk, as you can see.
Here we are.
This is Oscar, my mom's dog.
- [Daniela] Careful, he scratches.
- Hi!
[Daniela] Oscar! Out.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Hi, beautiful.
How's it going? I brought a few friends.
Don't play dumb.
Can't you see something's up? [laughs]
- Good evening. Good morning, even.
- [chuckles] They're friends of mine.
[Daniela] Okay,
- Mom, let's have a coffee.
- Okay.
Okay, so...
- You don't take sugar, but I need some.
- No sugar for me.
[Daniela] I never dreamed
she could've gotten as far as she is now,
because it all started as a game.
She was three, and a neighbor of mine
had kids who'd been doing commercials.
- They were little girls too.
- [actors speaking Italian]
[in English] And she asked me if I wanted
my daughters to try as well.
I said, "Well, don't know,
because they seem a bit introverted,
a bit shy."
She says, "Well, give it a try."
Does it weird you out being filmed?
A lot.
I feel watched. [laughs]
- [in Italian] And how old are you?
- [Daniela] Ilary is three.
Ilary. What a cheerful name!
[Daniela in English]
That's how it started.
She did great and went on
to do tons of commercials, really.
From three to seven or eight years old,
she must have advertised
every possible product you can imagine.
Cars, electrical appliances...
- Toys.
- Toys... Everything.
You know.
When she was about ten,
they kind of stopped picking her.
She was getting tired of it, because...
of course it's fun,
but it still entails sacrifices.
So she stopped.
Until the audition
for Passaparola came up.
- She had done...
- I'd done a lot of auditions by then.
[Daniela] She had done a lot of auditions,
but they all came to nothing.
So this audition for Passaparola came up,
and she said,
"Mom, I'll get the train."
"If it goes well, fine. If it doesn't...
I'll just quit."
"That's enough."
BORN TO BE "LETTERINA"
DR. GERRY AND MR. HYDE
[Melory] I was so proud,
at school, I mean.
My sister was on TV,
a famous sister. I was super excited.
STARSIGN: TAURUS
67 IN. OF CHARM
CLASS OF '81
MAGNETIC EYES
I start doing Passaparola.
I was 19 years old.
SEPT 10, 2001
And...
and he was already Francesco Totti.
[crowd cheering excitedly]
[whistle blows]
[Michele] They say Rome is a cynical city,
a city that doesn't believe in anything.
So it's hard to identify its heroes.
Francesco Totti goes back to a mythology,
because he was born
right in the center of Rome,
between the Palatino and Aventino hills,
where Rome itself was born.
[inspirational music playing]
[Michele] He's linked to origin myths.
People stop him in the street,
trying to touch his right foot.
He's really like a statue,
with the sacred foot of a captain.
I've never watched football.
I still don't.
I didn't watch it before, during, or now.
I'm not at all into that sport, in fact,
it bores me. [laughs]
Oh! A super soccer fan, Ilary!
[laughing]
No, no, she absolutely has
no clue about it,
and after all these years,
she still hasn't figured out
how this game of football works.
At Christmas 2001,
my sister calls me
saying she'd met Francesco,
and she tells me
that Francesco wants to meet me.
Through a mutual friend,
we were introduced.
And that's when Francesco,
I mean... told me he wanted to meet Ilary,
and that he was already in love with her,
and so on.
So my sister,
together with this friend of mine,
arranged to meet.
We meet at a pub in Rome.
We're introduced.
But I don't,
you know,
in the hustle and bustle of the pub,
I didn't take that meeting very seriously.
Francesco and I basically spoke every day...
Every hour, I think.
After a while I return to Rome,
we go out to dinner, all of us together.
We get to know each other a bit better.
He starts writing to me.
Really cute messages, very... shy.
I mean, like,
"How are you? What are you doing?"
When I'd go down to Rome,
we would always meet all together,
and so it went until January, and...
[man] You didn't fall in love
at first sight?
Not in my case, no.
And then in March,
he invites me to the derby.
I wasn't sure I could go,
so I told him, "Look, I don't know."
"No, no, come on, it's great.
It's a wonderful game."
I was a little bit scared.
- I wasn't convinced.
- Did you like him?
Yes, yes. Of course,
I had started liking him.
But the truth is,
I didn't wanna be a number.
And I think he was at his wits' end
trying to convince me.
So he invites me to the derby
because he was preparing a surprise.
And the surprise was the T-shirt
saying, "U R one of a kind."
MAR 10, 2002
As soon as he scores, his friends grab me
and kind of pull me up,
saying, "Look, look.
Look carefully in the midfield."
So I'm like...
I'm looking for him. I didn't understand.
A big boom, the crowd's on their feet.
He kneels down...
And, well, you've all seen it.
U R ONE OF A KIND
[Ilary] My friends are saying,
"It's for you. It's for you."
"It's for you!" [laughs]
With a dedication like that,
done deal. [chuckles]
It's funny to think that
it all started from here,
and so many years have passed.
So this
is the memento
of that night, of all these years.
But...
I'm not sure it belongs to me anymore.
THE TRUE TORY
OF HOW THEIR RELATIONSHIP STARTED
Anyway, two years go by,
the marriage proposal gets more insistent.
Then, finally,
the actual proposal comes in 2004.
[Daniela] He started coming to our house,
which was nothing fancy, you know?
I felt a little embarrassed.
I mean, he must've been used to...
more elegant settings.
My house was just like
any other families'.
But he never acted like he was superior.
[driver] Is that story true,
about how when you were dating,
he pulled up to your house
with his Ferrari,
you opened the door and bam,
you slammed it against the wall?
- Yes, yes, it's true.
- He told that story.
- Of course! I told it too. Yes, yes.
- [laughing]
And he played it cool?
- What would you have done?
- Oh, please, are you kidding? No.
It was our first date,
what could he tell me? [laughs]
It was only months later, when we had
more familiarity, he confessed.
"Damn you!"
[laughing]
"But what was I supposed to say?"
[church bells ringing]
- Did you know I got married here?
- [driver] Yeah, everyone in Rome knows.
- [Ilary] Oh, yeah?
- [driver] Yeah. What a day.
[Fabio Fazio in Italian] I'm glad
you're getting married, but also worried.
Because I'd like to know
whether next year, after the wedding,
you'll be with us in October
when we start again or not?
Well...
is there... is there room
for an extra person?
Here.
- Yes.
- [Ilary] Because there'll be three of us.
- [chuckles]
- I don't get it.
- [heartwarming music playing]
- [audience applauds]
[giggling]
- You.
- Me.
- Me sitting over there.
- You.
And we'll need room for a baby carriage.
- [Ilary laughs]
- [applause]
- [Fabio] That's wonderful!
- Wow.
[in English] During the arrangements
for the wedding,
I found out I was pregnant,
so I got married in June 2005.
JUNE 19, 2005
And I was five-months pregnant. [giggles]
Joy was already in the air,
both because of the wedding day
and because Cristian was about to be born.
We wanted our big day
to be all about friends and family.
And that's how it was.
FRANCESCO TOTTI AND ILARY BLASI'S WEDDING
I didn't get a chance to enjoy it much,
especially Ilary's entrance in church,
which I didn't enjoy at all,
because since she was pregnant
she had to go to the bathroom a lot.
So I went with her,
and then she had to
make her entrance really fast,
as if someone was running
after her. [chuckles]
And I didn't make it in time
to sit down and watch her... her entrance.
[Silvia laughs]
It was definitely a media event,
because it was streamed live
But as far as I am concerned,
it was just my sister's wedding.
[priest in Italian] Do you promise to love
and honor each other in marriage
for the rest of your lives?"
- I do.
- I do.
Francesco and Ilary are husband and wife.
Give them a round of applause.
[congregation applauds]
[Silvia in English] When we came out
of the church,
and we saw all those people outside,
I thought,
"Oh, okay."
[laughing]
MAGICAL WEDDING
[cheering]
[Ilary] From there on,
it was one thing after another,
because after Cristian, during the summer,
I got pregnant with Chanel.
It was like having twins.
So they were really intense, taxing years.
Then we all grew up. Children grow up.
And you feel that desire, you know?
That desire to be mom comes back a little.
So we decided to have...
MAR 10, 2016
...a third daughter, later in life,
with more experience.
And Isabel was born.
AT HOME WITH ISABEL
[Silvia] I always saw them
as very... serene, close, in love.
They were hilarious together.
They were a lot of fun.
INSEPARABLE EVEN IN DIVING
[Daniela]With me, he's always been
very, very nice, affectionate,
even in these conversations we had.
He's always respected me,
both as a... as a mother-in-law
and as a person.
That's what I liked about him. He was so...
humble. Simple, despite...
his success,
despite his popularity, despite his fame,
he liked to do simple things,
like hanging out with his old friends,
just like me.
You might say
that our similar lives sort of met.
Girls, welcome to London.
- London. London!
- Thanks, dear.
[laughter]
[Ilary] Francesco was all about family.
He liked children,
so I have nothing to complain about.
[woman] They were a wonderful couple.
It was always Ilary and Francesco,
Francesco and Ilary.
A bit like Sandra and Raimondo.
FRANCESCO'S COUSIN
Where are they? Giorgia!
Ilary without Francesco
or Francesco without Ilary
was something unthinkable.
Whatever, we'll think about it.
I'm Giorgia, I'm married to Angelo.
My husband is Francesco's cousin.
They've been as close as brothers
for almost 40 years.
[Ilary] Come look over here.
[Giorgia] But now, their relationship
is no longer what it used to be.
If you don't buy these, you're a nobody.
These look good on you.
Anyway, every single time,
they ask me, "Where are you from?"
This lady, too, "Russian?"
- Do I look Russian?
- [Silvia] Today you do, kind of.
- Talk about how at first we didn't...
- Yes, you were obnoxious.
She says I was obnoxious.
The first time I saw her...
Here she comes, the femme fatale.
- Like that, with her red lipstick.
- A femme fatale? Why would you say that?
"A pleasure."
With her hand like this.
"A pleasure, Ilary."
[Ilary] No, that's not how I shake hands.
Not at all. Then we fell in love. [laughs]
[dramatic music playing]
Hey, can we have some cheerfulness?
- Because you girls...
- [Giorgia] Oh, you sure bring cheer!
[Ilary] At least I actually
bring some cheer, because really...
[Giorgia] For God's sake.
You've been wearing us down all morning.
What did I do to wear you down?
[Giorgia] You yell and yell.
- As soon as you get up you yell.
- [Ilary] I don't.
Guys, in the morning,
you get up and talk, you're active.
- [Silvia] No, you yell.
- No, it's not true. I don't yell.
[Giorgia] Oh my God.
[Ilary] Then what happened?
After hanging out for a while,
She's amazing, she's incredible.
I adore her.
- So I'm likable. Can you admit it?
- Yes.
Yes, a lot of good qualities.
She also has a lot of flaws,
you know? A lot.
A lot.
Let's just say she only hugged me
for the first time
after seven, eight years.
[both laugh]
- You're asleep in the morning, anyway.
- Yes.
It's not like I'm sleeping though.
It takes me a while to get up.
I don't like getting up right away.
"I'm not sleeping though."
You're completely awake.
No, I like to get up
and have breakfast right away.
Yeah, because you have to do
an hour on the treadmill.
At 8:30 a.m. you call people
while you're on the treadmill.
I don't know.
[laughs] It's to pass time.
- At 8:30 in the morning...
- I won't call you anymore.
Yeah. Thank God.
[Ilary] Isabel was born in 2016.
Francesco already wasn't playing much.
They'd put him in
a few minutes before the end.
[Daniela] Francesco, in those days was,
I mean, quite depressed.
He wasn't the happy, joyful Francesco
we had known at the beginning.
[Ilary] Of course, he was going through
an intense, sad, tough period.
He was really down.
It's hard to be close to someone who,
in a way, is going through his...
darkest hour?
[Giorgio] During that time,
Francesco suffered greatly.
So maybe Ilary was trying
to have us around
to lighten up those days a bit.
[Silvia] We all stuck by him
because we understood
that it was a big step for him.
A major life change.
I believe when you experience
that kind of adrenaline,
that thrill of the field,
the stadium, the roar,
the fans, the smell of the grass,
um...
what you've always done,
probably since you were born,
and the time comes
when you know that
that thrill and those times,
they will be gone forever.
Forever.
But you have no choice.
It's the fate of all athletes.
[tense music playing]
MAY 27, 2017
Angelo!
I remember the night before the farewell.
I called my friends, our friends.
And I told them to get their scooters.
So, basically, later they call me,
I open the gate to the house,
and there were all the scooter headlights.
And he said, "What? What's going on?"
"Come on, let's go.
You won't be able to sleep anyway,"
So, we drove around Rome.
We had an ice cream.
I mean, it was
the day before the farewell.
[Michele] On May 28, 2017,
Totti bids farewell to football.
It was like a funeral,
of course without a dead man,
but everyone was mourning
the retiring champion.
65,000 people gathered
at the Olympic Stadium.
The whole city embraced its gladiator,
awaiting an uncertain future.
[fans cheering]
[crowd applauding]
[fans singing]
[singing fades]
[Ilary] The following days...
he was on the sofa,
watching his farewell on a loop.
I mean...
[Francesco's speech plays
indistinctly in background]
But...
after that,
slowly, slowly, the days passed.
And...
and I must say he surprised me.
Because he had gotten to that day
full of anxiety,
emotions, fear, rage.
Everything was there.
Day after day, it seemed to me as if,
slowly, slowly...
he was regaining some serenity,
a bit of...
That he accepted it.
That's how it seemed to me.
I don't know...
I don't know. I can't...
I don't know. [sniffles]
Ilary's career starts flying high,
at a moment when he's basically retiring.
ILARY BLASI, FORMER "LETTERINA"
AND TOP MEDIASET HOSA SUPER SEXY PANTHER ROARS ON "LE IENE"
[audience cheering]
I feel like a princess! I swear.
Call me Princess Ilary from tonight on.
Good evening and welcome
to Isola dei Famosi,
where the best is yet to come!
Welcome to the grand finale
of Celebrity Big Brother!
[Michele] You don't have to be
a psychologist to figure out
that this must have had
a big impact on him.
A man who, at 40, finds himself
a king in exile who no longer reigns.
It was the hardest moment
in our relationship.
Except for what happened after that.
[man] Okay,
let's go back to where we were.
28 MAY 2017
[reporter in Italian] It's said
that he's been dating Noemi.
I'm really sick of having to deny this.
[Ilary] He was... fuming.
[voices overlapping]
JAN 28, 2022
[Ilary] It was January 28th
when he comes out with this thing.
That's when I understood
that his silence, his rage,
his... vagueness
were all due
to this coffee.
So from then on...
a series of guilt trips started.
Because he made sure
I was feeling guilty.
[tense suspenseful music playing]
FEB 21, 2022
END OF A FAIRY TALE?
[Ilary] In February, ironically...
this news comes out.
TOTTI AND ILARY IN THE FINAL THROES?
[Michele] On February 21st, 2022,
the news broke on the Dagospia site,
talking about a crisis
between Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi.
[in Italian] After 20 years
of love and three children,
it looks like Totti and Ilary's marriage,
a couple symbolizing the capital, is over.
Their 20-year relationship
now seems to be ending.
[male reporter] An Italian website
started the rumor
and it has crossed national borders,
even though it has not been confirmed.
FEB 22, 2022
[Michele in English] The day after,
a name emerges, Noemi Bocchi.
And with a first and last name,
all of a sudden,
the news takes on a certain gravity,
it gets real.
All the newspapers pick it up.
Corriere della Sera, what else?
Repubblica, Messaggero...
They all present it as fact.
Waiting...
[Daniela] You think,
"My goodness, people are so mean."
That's what you think.
"How dare they make such presumptions?"
We thought it was a hoax. That's all.
[soccer fans cheering]
[dramatic music playing]
[Michele] The Olympic stadium...
is like an altar for Totti.
It's impossible not to notice
the young Noemi Bocchi.
If she's at the stadium, it's evidence.
It's the smoking gun
proving something is going on.
[Ilary] This news breaks.
For me, it was like... [chuckles]
"You see?
"It's happened to you now. So, explain.
Give me some explanations."
"What's going on here?"
"I don't know who she is."
"What, you don't know who she is?
"They published her name.""
"With... a photo."
"So whoever took that photo
knows who she is."
"They write all sorts of nonsense.
How would I know?"
"They must have introduced me to her
at a padel game. Perhaps I've seen her..."
"Perhaps I've seen her a couple of times.
She asked me a photo for her children."
"Just like billions of people
who want a photo with me."
And indeed,
there was nothing odd about it.
Then he says, "Look, look at the picture."
"She's like, I don't know,
five rows behind."
"From this angle,
you know, you can't tell."
"She's not even next to me."
He was very confident. Very sincere. And...
at that point...
I called my mother,
and asked her if I could come home.
And that's when I broke down.
[solemn music playing]
I had never seen her cry like that.
[Silvia] At some point I got scared,
because I thought, "What's going on here?"
Also because, looking at the picture,
looking closely,
it didn't look at all suspicious to us.
Francesco said, "No, I don't know her."
So if that's what he says...
after 20 years of living with someone,
I think you can...
I mean, trust what he's... telling you.
So I tell him, "If this is the truth,
if what you're saying is true,
you can't turn a blind eye.
You can't just keep quiet."
"I think you should do something."
[birds calling]
[Ilary] So he decides to issue a denial.
[Francesco in Italian] In the past
few hours, I have read in the media
a lot of things about me
and especially about my family.
It is not the first time that I happen...
uh, to hear this fake news.
I'm talking to all of you
who write these things,
you should... be careful,
because there are children involved.
And children must be respected.
And frankly, I'm really sick
of having to deny all this.
[in English] Who to believe?
The journalists... or my husband?
[tense music playing]
Who swore, first to me...
and then in front of the kids.
He swore that...
that
it was all made up.
He swore it.
What would you have done?
[calming music playing]
[Michele] Totti's denial,
which comes on February 22nd,
is not very believable.
If feels a bit overzealous.
Was it really necessary?
Plus, as Mr. Andreotti would say,
who, by the way, was a big fan of Roma FC,
"A denial is a piece of news given twice."
However, he was criticized
for this denial.
TOO BAD HE DOESN'T DENY A DAMN THING
"A weak denial. A half-hearted denial."
TOTTI'S DENIAL, IF YOU CAN
CALL IT THAT, UNCONVINCING
Of course, now... I know
the reason why.
[dramatic music playing]
[camera shutters clicking]
[whistling]
[Ilary] On February 22nd,
these pictures come out.
And these news articles started to pin me
with a series of names.
Men's names. A whole list.
Hell, I didn't understand.
I couldn't make sense of all this.
I didn't know the reason why
this was happening.
Shortly thereafter,
L'Isola dei Famosi was going to start.
And it's common practice
to go on Verissimo to promote the show.
Obviously, it was a hot topic.
So I give him a heads-up.
I say, "Look,
for sure they'll ask me about it."
And he says,
"Feel free to say what you like."
"I have nothing to hide."
So I went there, like a kamikaze.
Head-on.
This story has been talked up a lot,
maybe too much.
BLASI FURIOUS ON TV:
"CRISIS WITH TOTTI? DISGUSTING"
They linked names to me,
while Francesco has been linked
to this girl who goes by Noemi.
With a picture, even.
Pictures at the stadium.
I don't know her
but the most shameful thing
was that national newspapers
of a certain credibility,
such as Corriere della Sera,
such as Repubblica and Messaggero,
presented it as confirmed news,
as if it were fact.
And they made asses of themselves.
[chuckles]
Looking back on myself, what an idiot.
[Daniela] She was convinced.
An idiot.
[chuckles sadly]
She was totally sure that it was
fake news.
[Silvia] She was positive, but so were we.
I mean, Cristian would go along
to the stadium.
So, what are you doing?
I mean, you take your son to the stadium
and you bring along your mistress?
Something like that is unthinkable.
I used strong words.
I called the papers "pieces of shit."
Because, obviously,
I had discussed it with my husband.
So I was certain.
And I really wanted to convey the message,
"Don't you dare
make these conjectures again,
especially since you have
nothing to show me, to prove it."
TOTTI & ILARY, NOEMI POPS UP IN THE CRISIS
SNAPPED WITH HIM AT THE STADIUM
[Ilary] Francesco, on the other hand,
despite all this,
didn't even care about
what the papers had said about him.
Because to him it was all bullshit.
What mattered to him
was the coffee I had.
In fact, he gave me a choice.
And he says,
"For me to be able to trust you,
you must never see Alessia again."
"You have to delete all your social media,
change your phone number,
and then
stop working."
"Francesco, what you're asking me
is to choose between
my life and your life.!
"I choose me."
"This is not the way to gain back trust."
"These things don't help."
When I didn't accept, he...
considered it almost
as not caring about the family,
not caring about him.
[tense music playing]
Then, in May, at a certain point,
Francesco goes away for a while,
like... five days, six days,
because he had a commitment
in Monte Carlo,
and then the final of Roma FC
in Tirana, Albania.
So he was doing all this in one go.
In early June,
Alessia... gets a phone call...
from someone.
A paparazzi.
REVELATIONS
[Ilary] Who wanted to talk to me
because he had
important things to tell me.
So I travel from Milan by train.
- [horn honks]
- [dramatic music playing]
[Ilary] I meet him
at the hotel near Termini Station.
I say, "Okay, let's get a coffee."
So we meet...
- [man] You shouldn't have coffee.
- You're right, coffee is terrible.
Never have coffee.
Coffee is dangerous.
We sit down, and he says that...
that he had a picture.
He shows me the picture.
"THE BIG BABY" CAUGHT WITH NOEMI
[Ilary] There's a hot tub,
where you can see Francesco,
a friend of ours,
and a woman from the back.
Again, they imply...
"Francesco in Monte Carlo
with his girlfriend."
I know that hot tub very well
because I've been going
to Monte Carlo for 20 years.
It's a hot tub located
at the hotel's spa, so it's public.
I mean, you sit on the terrace.
They have sunbeds. There's a restaurant.
So it's public.
I knew Francesco had gone to Monte Carlo.
It's not like I didn't know it.
He had told me so.
And you're not showing me the girl's face.
Why are you publishing it from behind
if you think it's her?
Why not wait until she gets up
from the hot tub and take a frontal shot?
No?
What kind of evidence are you giving me?
So, I go home, and I talk to my husband.
I ask for explanations, picture in hand.
He's like,
"She must be some foreign lady."
"Maybe she was a foreign lady.
There were many people around."
"What do I know?"
"How am I supposed to remember
who she was, seen from the back?"
"You see, no papers have reported it.
Did this get out in any news?"
"No one believes this story anymore."
He was cold. Confident.
Convincing.
Only later, I understood...
[chuckles wryly] I understood why
those photos were taken from behind.
But I only found out later.
[man] What did
the paparazzi want from you?
Apparently, around Rome,
rumors had been building up,
more and more,
spreading more and more,
about Francesco leading
basically a double life.
[taxi driver] In some respects,
Rome is a bit mendacious.
It enjoys mischief.
Romans are gossipy, very gossipy.
[driver] Everyone knew
that Totti had a big appetite.
He loved desserts and women.
So, did they cover for him?
[chuckling] Oh, I think they did, yeah.
- Perhaps.
- [horn honking]
Hey, hey, hey!
Watch the road, though, Primo.
[Michele] Rome is a city
that talks trash about everyone.
You hear some crazy rumors.
Sometimes they can get fierce.
Everything is mixed
and everything is muted,
because when everyone says everything,
basically no one says anything.
Rome knew.
But I only found out later
that Rome knew about it.
No one had ever said a word to me.
Not a word.
I even put myself
in people's shoes.
Who interferes
when a family is so... great?
[solemn music playing]
And symbolic.
JUNE 25, 2022
CERTAINTY
[Ilary] The last two weekends of June,
I was responsible
for hosting L'Isola dei Famosi
twice a week, back and forth.
He takes Isabel,
our youngest daughter, and he takes her
out to lunch.
So, the first weekend, my daughter
goes out to lunch, and she comes back...
let's say, after this lunch...
with a lot of toys.
And she tells me
she was given all these toys. I...
You know, I was still preparing
for the grand finale, so...
I didn't have a lot of time.
So, I ask her, "Who gave you these toys?
Where did you go?"
"Ah, I went out to lunch with friends."
You know. Okay.
The second weekend, she comes back
with toys, new friends, people."
JULY 1, 2022
I ask her, "Who are these kids?
Do you remember their names?"
"Are they boys or girls?"
She thinks about it, and she tells me,
"Yeah, there's this girl.
And she doesn't tell me her name.
She tells me her nickname
that they called her.
I say, "Does she have
a brother or a sister?"
"Yes, yes, she has a brother.
A younger brother."
And she tells me the brother's name.
[distant children playing]
[Ilary] That's when...
I remember from newspaper articles...
that this girl had kids.
TOTTI'S NEW GIRLFRIEND HAS KIDS,
A GIRL AND A BOY
Gradually, I start connecting the dots.
So, I... make a few calls
to find out... her kids' names.
And, uh, wouldn't you know it,
it all matched up.
[tense music building]
Finally,
I had my answer.
[voice catching] I mean,
I couldn't believe...
I couldn't believe...
that the man...
[sniffles] ...who had been at my side
for 20 years, half of my life,
who... had always said
that he loved me
that...
he couldn't live without me,
had done...
[sniffles]
...such a thing.
I felt, uh...
[breathes shakily]
I felt stupid.
Then,
I felt...
disappointed...
disgusted...
a little angry, but...
barely.
[sniffles] Barely, because...
["Past Lives" by Brns playing]
...the guilt wasn't there anymore.
It had vanished.
[sniffles]
Past lives couldn't ever hold me down
Lost live is sweeter
When it's finally found
I've got the strangest feeling...
- [man] Are you okay?
- Yes.
This isn't our first time around
Past lives
Couldn't ever come between us
Sometimes
The dreamers finally wake up
Don't wake me up
I'm not dreaming...
- [man] We're ready.
- Yes.
[man] Okay.
...I'm not dreaming
[man] July 2nd.
You become aware of the fact that...
- That it's all true.
- [man] What happens?
What happens is,
I wanted to see for myself.
- And I wanted proof.
- [ominous music sting]
THE INVESTIGATION
[Ilary] Because...
he was never going to admit it.
So I needed solid evidence.
And that very... night,
he says he's going out to dinner.
So, I call Giorgia.
I tell her,
"You have to go somewhere with me."
I tell her everything.
She comes around 11 p.m.
You have to wear your seatbelt though.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ilary] I tell her she can't say anything
to her husband Angelo.
What did you tell Angelo?
What was the excuse?
[Giorgia] Oh man.
Ennio's tarot reading.
[Ilary laughs]
I told him, "Since Francesco is not home,
Ennio is going over to her place,
a friend of ours that Angelo knows,
with a friend of his
who does tarot readings."
Since we like that.
- We're a bit...
- Yeah.
It's fun.
Yeah. But Angelo goes,
"Do you really have to go?"
So I told him,
"No, no, I really want to go."
"Ennio's friend is going away."
Not least because these tarot cards
were going to reveal a truth.
[Giorgia] Exactly.
[Ilary] I managed
to get hold of the address,
including the house number,
where this young lady lived.
No doubt in my mind.
But I still want to go see,
so we went there.
You were distraught.
Yes. I was distraught.
[sadly] I couldn't... imagine such a thing.
[voice catches] When she told me,
I kind of...
No, please don't, Giorgia.
[Giorgia sniffles]
Luckily you have the personality you do.
If it were me, I would've ended up
in some... mental institution.
[laughs]
Do I have to hug you, now? [laughs]
See? I do hug. I do!
All right, so...
We get there, and...
Yeah. We get there.
And there it was.
The car.
Parked there. The parked car.
When we see the car,
I couldn't believe it. I said, "No."
What, you couldn't you believe it?
- Yeah, okay, but up until the very end...
- We knew what to expect.
[Giorgia] I know, but until the very end,
I guess... you always hope...
Ilary gets out first.
There's this low wall.
She looks over, and she sees.
I couldn't see much, actually.
I heard voices.
I heard... I heard laughter,
as if there was some kind of....
of dinner going on, you know?
A party, in the garden.
Obviously, I was also scared to...
to lean too far over.
So I basically went back to her car...
And that's it.
Then she said, "I'll tell you what."
"You get out,
since you're less recognizable than me."
I was about to... do the same thing,
when I hear someone saying, like,
"Someone's there! Someone's there!" Like...
You run to the car,
you jump in and you say...
I get in the car,
she had got into the driver's seat.
- I say, "Oh my God! They've seen us. Run!"
- Go, go!
Fleeing, she put it in reverse, and boom!
A terrible crash.
She basically hits a tree.
- Ah, was it a tree?
- Yes.
[Ilary] I don't even remember.
[dramatic music playing]
[Giorgia] At that moment, I couldn't think
of anything, not even where we were,
because I was worried about the car.
Did you tell Angelo the day after?
What?
Where we went.
No, I've always told him
that the tarot reading had been good.
He asked me about the tarot cards.
[Ilary] In the end we were laughing
because it was all so surreal.
I'd even say... daring.
[man] Did you take a picture?
Of the car? Yeah.
[man] Mm.
Yes, but...
I kept... I kept quiet, and
I immediately hired a detective.
[suspenseful music playing]
[man] How did you find this detective?
I called my agent,
and I asked
if she can find me one in Milan.
Because I was worried
that if they were from Rome,
they might've covered for Francesco.
Mrs. Blasi has a well-founded,
solid suspicion of marital infidelity.
She wants to know the truth.
She wants to gather evidence.
She provides us with a lot of helpful data
to get the investigation going.
Photos, vehicles
that her husband could use,
and an address,
which, in her opinion,
could be linked
to her husband's... mistress.
[Ilary] On July 5th,
Francesco told me that
he was taking Isabel to dinner
at his friend's restaurant,
together with other friends
and their kids.
But I knew
he was never going to that restaurant.
He was going someplace else.
[Domenico] There we spotted
his friends' vehicles.
And we thought,
"I bet that he left his car
parked far away
from a point of interest
that is compromising for him,
and had his friend drive him from there."
It was already the dead of night
when they brought him back to his vehicle,
and from there he went back home.
[man] So you had your evidence.
Yes and no.
[man] Why?
[snickers]
Because...
the detective got caught. [laughs]
[giggling]
This is turning into a tragic comedy!
[man] But how?
I don't know. You can ask him yourself.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to
conclude our operation successfully
because we got exposed.
There was a security guard
watching out for fans and stalkers.
Consequently,
we were no longer in the condition
to take photographic evidence.
[man] So, sorry,
if he gets caught,
it means
that Francesco knows that you know.
That's right.
The strange thing is...
the night before...
he wanted me.
Sexually.
And obviously,
I said... "No."
The next day,
he was in our bedroom, in the bathroom.
JULY 6, 2022
I asked him, "What happened last night?"
And he didn't confess.
He was still trying to hide it.
I told him, "Come on, that's enough.
I know everything."
I told him everything I knew.
And he said,
"Do you realize what you've done?"
"You hired a detective?"
"Yeah."
"Because you weren't telling the truth
and you were hiding all the evidence."
In the end, I cornered him,
and he admitted it.
But he doesn't say
that it was a serious relationship.
He described it as if...
they started dating casually,
nothing much.
He was good at... spouting bullshit.
Now I know that.
[Daniela] I think cheating signifies
a lack of honesty.
I mean, it's when you lose
not only trust but respect too.
Even with my husband,
if I had doubted something,
I don't know if I could have forgiven him.
You don't get over being cheated on.
Why? Because your instinct
tells you not to.
If something is broken,
it's broken.
Why should you get over being cheated on?
But by then, it was no longer about
accepting his cheating.
At that point, it was...
humiliating, as a woman and as a mother.
The situation was clear,
and there was only
one path for me to take.
[dramatic music playing]
JULY 11, 2022
THE SEPARATION
[reporter 1 in Italian] It's official,
the definite breakup...
The end of Francesco Totti's marriage...
After 20 years, Francesco Totti
and Ilary Blasi's love sinks.
[reporter 2] With the announcement
of a joint press release.
It didn't eventually come
because they couldn't reach
a convergence, just like politicians.
[Ilary in English] He wanted to write
that he had done everything he could
to save this marriage.
And I wasn't okay with that,
because it wasn't true.
[in Italian] "I have tried
to overcome the crisis,
but our separation, however painful,
is no longer avoidable,"
the ex-captain of Roma FC declared.
After 20 years together...
[church bells ringing]
[Ilary in English] Then Rome
went from being... quiet
to suddenly having a lot to say.
This couple hadn't been
an item for a while.
These rumors had been going around
for ages, you could feel it in the air.
Her, him...
Everything and anything has been said.
The Rolexes, the purses...
It's a soap opera.
So, after that,
...other pictures
at the Tirana stadium come out.
WITH NOEMI BOCCHI IN TIRANA
Photos of him leaving her house.
The puzzle pieces were taking shape.
Then, in August,
exactly two months
after the Monte Carlo pictures...
"PUPONE" CAUGHT WITH NOEMI
AT A MONTE CARLO SPA
...I was contacted by a newspaper editor.
He told me that back in May,
a bunch of pictures
had landed on his desk.
And he showed them to me.
And they were the photographs
where you could see Noemi clearly.
Remember I couldn't understand why
that woman could only be seen from behind?
Well, the editor told me
he had obviously contacted Francesco,
who was really worried and desperate.
And he had asked him not to...
not to publish them.
And I believe that the paper,
the editor, in order to protect...
the family, and perhaps Francesco's image...
[in Italian] No newspaper
could afford to say
that Totti and Ilary
had ended their marriage.
Because for a newspaper from Rome
it would have meant losing 40,000 copies.
Because Totti, in Rome,
is the eighth king.
[Ilary in English] The press
was always against me.
In fact, he was addressed as "champion,"
"captain," and I was
the "former game show girl."
[Primo] I think Francesco was right.
[Ilary] What do you mean, he was right?
He was hurt about something
that maybe...
That I did?
You... Yeah.
You were the one to take the first step.
I mean, with Noemi,
it's like she came later.
That's the impression I have.
Yeah, and I imagine it's because
you've spoken quite a bit about it, right?
With your friends. Right?
Yeah. But I think that
that's what most people think.
[haunting pop ballad playing]
[Ilary] Yeah, I know, like I...
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[Ilary] What hurt me the most
was not being understood.
As if to say,
"Well, didn't you know what was going on?"
No.
No.
[indistinct chatter]
[Ilary] I married Francesco Totti
out of love.
Not for money.
And I've always proven that publicly.
I defended him against Mr. Spalletti.
[reporter in Italian] Like February 21st,
when Spalletti sent him back home.
"Spalletti acted as in a petty way."
Harsh criticism on President Pallotta,
who "should switch on his brain"
before talking about her Francesco.
[in English] And I defended him
against Fabrizio Corona.
[Fabrizio in Italian]
What your husband wrote is bullshit!
- Do you want to know how it went down?
- I already know.
Did it bother you to get cheated on
a month before your wedding?
[Fabrizio] Happens to everybody!
[Ilary] You put on that whole show
13 years ago,
but I'm not buying it.
Turn off the live feed!
Bye, Fabrizio, have a good life!
[in English] And why did I defend him?
Because I always believed my husband.
[glass clinking]
Guys, a toast.
- [man] Yes, yes, yes, yes.
- [woman] Yeah!
- [Ilary laughs]
- [man] To what?
This toast is to... thank you,
after everything that's happened,
for having stood by me during the most...
let's say... peculiar,
confused, crazy time of my life.
- Thanks.
- [man] Cheers.
- [Ilary] Thanks. To you, and to us.
- [woman] Cheers.
SEP 11TH, 2022
[Michele] September 11th, 2022,
Francesco Totti gave his famous interview
to Aldo Cazzullo in the Corriere.
TOTTI: "ILARY? I DIDN'T CHEAT FIRST.
I FOUND MESSAGES ON HER PHONE."
[Michele] He says, "I was fragile,
I'd lost my bearings,
and Ilary didn't understand
the seriousness of my distress."
"My wife, when I needed her the most,
was not there for me."
"There was no conversation anymore,
there was nothing left."
[pensive music playing]
[Melory] I was dumbfounded.
"She was never there for him."
Are you kidding me?
Uh... everyone could see
she was there for him.
Maybe not always right by his side,
but she always had his back.
[Michele] "I wasn't the first to cheat."
"In September, last year,
I started hearing rumors."
"'Listen, Ilary is seeing another man.
More than one, in fact.'"
[Daniela] Portraying your ex-wife
as a loose woman,
even if it had been true,
you don't say that kind of thing.
Wouldn't it have been better...
I don't know. To keep quiet, instead?
This is an interview
their children could read in the future.
[Daniela] My whole world fell apart.
It was like Francesco disappeared.
I could no longer recognize
the young man that I... that I had known.
[tense music playing]
[Michele] In addition, Totti accuses Ilary
of having taken his watches.
Everybody wonders what watches.
And he says that he had
this Rolex collection in the bank,
and according to Totti,
Ilary went there with her father
to snatch all these collectable Rolexes.
So now, I'm not just a slut,
but a thief too.
- [laughing]
- [tense music playing]
[Ilary] Here's what happened.
In mid-June, I opened
the safe deposit box, I took...
my watches, the ones
I had bought myself, and his gifts.
And I leave the other watches,
his, in the deposit box.
He talked about this watch collection,
making it sound like I took 30 of them.
[Michele] In this interview, Totti says
that Ilary took his Rolex collection,
and he hid her purses.
[Ilary] He spends
the month of August in Sabaudia,
and since he had the kids,
I went for week on a catamaran
in Croatia, with my friends.
And I took Isabel with me.
I had a shoe closet with an armored door,
where I kept all my shoes and purses.
It's just mine, a room all to myself.
I locked the door with a key
before leaving,
and I took the spare with me too.
Because I know Francesco.
Only later, I found out that armored doors
have three to five spare keys.
So, I got back from... the cruise.
I opened my shoe closet.
And it was completely empty.
Empty.
He literally left me shoe-less.
There was nothing left.
He left her with one shoe and one slipper.
And he
made me an offer.
"Give me back my watches,
and I'll give you back your stuff."
Are you, like, 12 years old?
And I said, "No."
"Because you know perfectly well
that you gave me those watches."
Then the whole month of September goes by.
In mid-October, I wanted to use the spa.
And the door wouldn't open.
I grew suspicious.
I put two and two together,
I say, "The door is locked."
"It means that's where
my shoes and purses are."
The following day,
I arrange for a locksmith
to come and try to open this door.
My architect gets there,
the locksmith gets there,
they press the button, and the door opens.
They look at me, like, "Are you stupid?"
I look at them and I say, "I swear
this door was locked yesterday."
It opened, and I went in,
convinced I'd find what I was looking for
in those changing rooms,
so my purses and my shoes.
Instead, everything was perfectly tidy,
and more importantly, empty.
Going back,
I noticed that there was an armored door
that leads to a service room.
And this door was locked.
Excuse me. I need it back one second.
I even got the locksmith on the case.
He had no clue what was going on.
He must've thought I was crazy,
because I was trembling,
hoping that something was in there.
It's not like I could tell him
what had happened.
So, he must've thought,
"This is a madhouse."
It must have taken him,
like, 15, 20 minutes.
He was all sweaty.
Oh, finally.
I went in.
I looked around a little bit.
I went down the hall.
It's a very narrow hallway.
All the way to the back.
Here it is!
Here's the treasure!
The purses.
Here it is.
Yeah.
I mean, I was laughing about it.
And I was happy that I had found my stuff.
Oh, joy.
But then, I realized
that they weren't all there.
In fact, most of them were missing.
There were more shoes and purses.
They weren't there.
I thought, "Where are they?
Where are they?" A day goes by.
Basically, around 11 p.m.,
I had an epiphany, let's call it that,
and I remembered that up here,
there's an attic that...
I knew it was pretty big.
So, what did I do? I took a...
a ladder.
I climbed the ladder.
I pushed with all my strength
this padded square,
lifting it like that, and moving it.
I went up a bit more.
I climbed. I stuck my head through.
I looked in...
It was pretty dark. But then suddenly...
I see it all.
That's where all the boxes,
the purses and the shoes were.
Both on this side and on the other side.
I have to say that taking them down
was really, really... tiring.
Look where they are, all hidden.
I stayed up until two in the morning,
I called my mother, I called the nanny.
A hassle to take this stuff down.
I loaded it all on a golf cart
that we had around the house,
and I took everything to my mother's.
So I put everything in a safe place.
But then,
it was more about the satisfaction.
Of course, I was happy
that I'd found my stuff.
But above all,
the slap in the face
that I had found them.
[chuckling]
[man] There is one hard fact though.
That he was still at home.
[Ilary] Yes. He stayed for five months.
Actually, he would only come
for a day or two.
The rest of the time,
he wasn't there.
Then he would show up.
You could never tell.
I didn't... I didn't know his schedule.
He could come back
at five in the afternoon
or at two in the morning.
Or not come back at night at all.
Yeah, people don't know.
He went to Dubai,
introducing his new girlfriend
on the red carpet
Except then
he came back from Dubai...
to our home.
SEPARATED AT HOME FOR MONTHS
COUPLE'S FRIENDS CONFIRM THE LATESThat's how it was for five months.
I thought and hoped that...
I mean, at some point he would just leave.
I mean, you're in a relationship.
What are you doing here?
December was coming,
and Francesco told me
he'd like to go... on a Caribbean cruise
for Christmas and New Year's.
And he wanted to bring along
all three of his children.
I didn't agree.
Because it didn't feel right to...
to leave a little girl who was six
with her dad and his new partner.
It... it all seemed a bit premature.
In order to go,
he obviously had to have my consent.
And he was more and more in a rush.
So at that point,
I found myself at a crossroads.
So...
I resorted...
to a ploy.
I told him...
I told him, "Okay
I'll give you permission to go."
"And when you come back from the cruise,
you'll leave the house."
"Or I won't give you permission to go."
He was a bit in a tough spot
because... there were other people
traveling with him,
the group was making arrangements,
so they were all waiting on him.
So... the choice was kind of...
obvious.
I even felt a bit... like
I was using Isabel
as a bargaining chip, right?
But for the well-being of our children...
on January 11th,
he left the house.
[door slamming]
[solemn music playing]
[Melory] I hope she gets her smile back.
What she...
Hold on. Damn it.
[chuckles]
Right at the end!
To stay just the way she is, forever.
Because she's hot, she's cool.
She's... good at her job.
[Daniela] Anything can happen.
They could get back together.
They may separate forever.
As long as they do it in a civil way,
so that they can,
I don't know,
raise their children... together.
That's... what matters.
Actually, when he left home,
those 20 years didn't go away,
because to me...
those 20 years will always be there.
I mean, you can't... [sniffles]
...you can't erase 20 years.
It... it would be,
uh...
it would be stupid.
Why?
It really was a beautiful love story.
[fans cheering]
[Ilary] A happy marriage.
I have no regrets about those 20 years.
I am aware that
things can end.
It can happen.
But... it's the way that they end.
[reporters speaking Italian]
[Ilary] The way you deal with things.
I expected my husband
to... sit down in front of me
and tell me himself.
To accept his responsibilities.
[host in Italian] Could your relationship
survive an affair, by either of you?
[Ilary] No.
By either one of us.
["Past Lives" by Brns playing]
[in English] It's not what a marriage is.
Absolutely not.
And he knew it well.
And he tried
to cover himself
by lying.
Until the very end.
Past lives couldn't ever hold me down...
Lost love...
[Ilary] Sometimes, though,
you have to let yourself be surprised,
and accept life's changes,
and keep going, move forward.
This isn't our first time around...
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[man] Listen.
I want to ask you one last question.
- All this mess...
- [Ilary] Mm-hmm?
[man] As absurd as it might seem,
is because of a coffee?
[Ilary] It would appear so.
[man] Would you have that coffee again?
I'd do more than that, at this point.
[chuckling] No, come on. I'm joking!
[laughing heartily]
Bye, Primo. Thank you.
SEPARATION PROCEEDINGS INCLUDING
THE ISSUES IN THE DOCUMENTARY ARE ONGOING
They got nothing on me
Golden eagle
You're the one and only flying high...
[laughing]
Through the cities in the sky
Through all of my lives
I never thought
I'd wait so long for you
The timing is right
The stars are aligned
So save that heart for me
'Cause, girl, you know
You're my destiny
D-destiny
Swear to the moon, the stars
The sons and the daughters
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
Hey, I need you now
I've waited so long, yeah
Baby love, I need you now
I've waited oh, so long
So save that heart for me
'Cause, girl, you know
You're my destiny
D-destiny
Swear to the moon, the stars
The sons and the daughters
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
- Hey
- Save that heart for me
And, girl, I'll give you
Everything you need
Everything you need
Here's to our past lives
Our mothers and fathers
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
Hey, I need you now
I've waited oh, so long
ONE YEAR AFTER THE SEPARATION
OF ILARY BLASI AND FRANCESCO TOTTI
FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME
ILARY WANTS TO TELL HER STORY
[Ilary] It's such a personal thing,
I just don't... know.
Dunno, I'll just follow my instinct,
what I... what I feel like doing, okay?
[reporter 1 in Italian] The separation
of Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi...
[man 1 in English] It's like
our royal family.
[reporters speaking indistinctly]
[woman 1] I would have bet on them
hands down.
[woman 2] They were the symbol...
MAGICAL WEDDING
...of family, of love.
They were a beautiful couple.
Ilary without Francesco or Francesco
without Ilary was unthinkable.
Too bad it was all going to fall apart.
[news reporters speaking Italian]
[Ilary] Sometimes too much was said.
Sometimes too little was said.
Sometimes false things were said.
Oh wow!
[man] Everybody had something to say
about this story.
Ilary Blasi has almost never spoken.
[Ilary] I'd like to tell you my story.
After 20 years,
I see a different Francesco.
This news breaks.
What is this about?
Who do I believe?
The journalists, or my husband?
I feel guilty.
[in Italian] I am sick and tired of...
[Ilary in English] He was fuming.
A disaster.
He'd never have owned up to it.
I wanted proof.
[chuckles]
She suffered. She suffered a lot.
[journalist in Italian]
Could your relationship
survive an affair by either one of you?
[Ilary] No.
[man in English] Write the title.
- The title?
- [man] Yes.
[Ilary] I couldn't believe...
that the man who had been at my side
for 20 years, half of my life,
had done...
[sniffles]
...such a thing.
[suspenseful music playing]
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[soccer commentary plays indistinctly]
[reporter 2] Everybody's curious.
They wanna hear Ilary's story.
[Ilary] I have never said a word
about this. Never.
It's the first time I've told my story.
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[switch flicks echoing]
[tense music playing]
SUMMER 2023
[sighs]
[man] Have you felt the need
to clear things up, lately?
To clear up a lot.
Because, you know,
I'm used to... [chuckles]
...all sorts of fake news, or
reporters perhaps trying
to get a scoop or get a like.
So... I'll tell my truth.
So, certainly
Francesco has always been pretty upbeat,
always... smiling, I mean, pretty chilled.
In 20 years, we've never had, um, a fight,
or in 20 years,
I don't remember any big fights with him.
Really, seriously, our relationship
has always been... happy.
[man] Happy in every aspect?
We had sex regularly.
Maybe more than couples
that have been together for 20 years.
And then, this dry spell started.
Our being together...
was sporadic.
[man] When did Francesco start changing?
Early November.
- [man] 2021?
- [Ilary] Yes.
NOV 2021
A DIFFERENT HUSBAND
[Ilary] Suddenly, I started noticing,
let's say, my husband was quieter
than usual, standoffish.
He went out a lot
with an angry look on his face.
Different.
Initially, the first few days,
I just observed. I didn't say anything.
Obviously, eventually, I asked.
But he wouldn't give me any answers.
After a while,
after a month of this attitude,
I kind of started thinking that
he was upset with me.
But it was nothing out in the open.
It was... a feeling.
[bird wings fluttering]
[Ilary] So, I
asked questions.
And all his answers were
vague, muddled.
Meanwhile, our days went by,
and another month had passed.
- You have to... I'll tell you how to do it.
- I don't care, you do it.
Ilary is not an affectionate,
sugary woman...
ILARY'S MOTHER
...the kind who caresses you,
who gives you a little kiss.
However, Ilary has always been there
for Francesco. Always.
[uplifting music playing]
[woman 2] She can manage
very well on her own.
Let's say, before she even mentions
a... an issue to you...
ILARY'S SISTER
...it takes some time.
[Ilary] I'm off.
[woman 3] That's her personality,
how she's always been,
how she'll always be.
ILARY'S SISTER
- [driver] Where to? Okay.
- [Ilary] Parioli.
[Melory] She's never told us anything,
and... from the outside,
we've always seen
a couple with great chemistry.
What am I supposed to talk about?
"My husband seems off?"
"Why?" "What do I know?"
[tense music playing]
[Ilary sighs]
In late January,
I think it was, like, January 28th,
we went out for dinner
at a restaurant in Rome, in Parioli.
JAN 28, 2022
THE DINNER
[Ilary] We have this dinner
with Alessia and her partner
and two other couples,
old friends of ours.
Alessia is my dear friend
who does my hair.
So, in addition to being friends,
we also work together sometimes.
Once the dinner is over, we go out.
Before saying goodbye, we chat a little.
Some smoke a cigarette.
Some don't.
Suddenly, Francesco calls Alessia
and tells her,
"Can you come here for a second?"
He turns to me and says,
"Actually, you come too."
[heeled footsteps clopping]
So I follow him.
We go over, and he says,
"Give me your phone."
So I give him my phone.
He opens Instagram.
He opens a guy's picture.
A profile.
"Do you know this guy?"
And we say, "Yes."
"Have you ever met him?"
And we lie to him.
We say, "No."
Because we sensed
he was pissed off.
[man] Excuse me.
Can you tell me who this guy is?
- Was he good-looking?
- [Ilary] Yes, yes, a handsome guy.
You know, we were a bit stupid.
We enjoyed the funny game.
But it was all very...
friendly, very...
very playful, very amusing.
We were curious about this guy,
who had a somewhat peculiar life...
[man] So, how long did you deny it?
Before admitting...
No, it actually happened in a few seconds,
because as soon as we said,
"No, we've never met him,"
he made it clear that instead he knew
that we had actually met him.
And... and from then on,
it was a disaster.
He was... fuming.
[tense music playing]
[Ilary] He kept repeating
a specific date.
October 11th.
OCT 11, 2021
[Ilary] That's when I understand
that he had taken my phone
because he had
my passcodes and everything.
And he had found a message exchange
between me and Alessia,
where Alessia had been chatting
with this guy
and had arranged to meet him for a coffee.
[ominous music playing]
- [man] Did you indeed have that coffee?
- [Ilary] Yes, of course.
[man] Can you read me those messages?
The texts between you and Alessia.
Yes, I have to get my phone. Wait.
There are voice messages.
Will they be audible? I don't know.
You tell me.
So, wait, I have to backtrack. You know?
October 2021, right?
[man] Oh, yes.
[suspenseful music playing]
OCT 11, 2021
October 11th. Here it is.
Here it is. It starts here.
[Alessia] Great. For the appointment,
we'll have a blowout tomorrow
at eleven o'clock at a salon in Milan.
So you can wash your greasy hair.
I won't have to wash it,
she will. [laughs]
Then we'll go to lunch.
Is that okay with you?
If that's okay, I'll book for 11.
It's on March 22nd anyway,
and then we'll meet up with .
Just coffee or lunch?
I'd say lunch, so he'll pay for it.
[laughs] No, I'm just kidding.
Coffee. But you tell me
if you are okay with the meetup,
with the blowout, it's up to you.
This is my answer. I had a bad...
Wait. I had a bad cold. Listen.
That's fine. Sure, I can't go around
with such greasy hair. Okay.
The blowout at 11 is fine, and then...
The fuck do I know? Call him. See if...
I mean, up to you, Ale.
Either coffee or lunch is fine.
It's up to you.
Call him, maybe he's not even there.
She writes back, "Send me his number."
And I write, "I thought you had it.
"Let me check. Oh, it should be this one."
So, I send her the... the number.
She sends me two screenshots
of her conversation with him.
- [man] Where they arrange to meet?
- Yeah.
She said, "Hi, are you Italian?
Where are you from?"
And he writes, "Hi, yes, I'm Italian."
"So, are you in Milan?"
So Alessia writes, "Yes. Are you?"
And he says, "Yes. Light lunch
or coffee tomorrow? You choose."
So she writes me, "Okay.
He says lunch. How about the Mandarin?"
And this made Francesco crazy.
She said, "More private?"
MORE PRIVATE???
"Let's just invite him to our place."
And she replies, "Or he said
we could go to his house."
I write, "What do you think?
Is that close to the station?"
And she says,
"Yes, his house is close to the station."
"Okay."
We decided to have coffee at his place
because it was more convenient,
and we went with our roller suitcases.
Because we had to catch a train at three.
MILAN CENTRAL STATION
[suspenseful music playing]
[man] How long did you stay for?
[Ilary] Like, 40 minutes.
We chat, we have the coffee,
we smoke a cigarette.
- [lighter flicks]
- [slow exhale]
[man] So, all the change
in Francesco's attitude
that you notice in November
is due to your coffee in October?
[Ilary] Exactly.
I would never have imagined
that he'd come up with this revelation.
I mean, it was inconceivable for me.
I understand him being jealous.
I understand him being pissed off,
maybe feeling deceived,
his trust betrayed.
But in 20 years,
I've never given you a reason to doubt.
You've never opened the door
and found me screwing another man.
For the first time in 20 years,
it's your turn to believe me,
given that in 20 years,
I've always been the one
that had to believe you,
and had to defend you.
Even with Fabrizio Corona.
And the Flavia Vento affair
before getting married.
And he replied...
"Well, I don't know how you managed
all these years."
"I'm not as strong as you are."
"What does that mean, Francesco?"
"Well, that's the way I am."
"I just can't get that coffee
out of my mind."
[tense music playing]
[man] Hold on now.
Don't you get pissed off?
I don't really get pissed off.
In fact, I start feeling guilty.
Because he keeps repeating
that I ruined everything...
that I killed him inside,
that he's dead inside.
[distant sobbing]
"It's your fault."
"You brought this on."
"Why did you have to have that coffee?"
[distant laughter, chatting]
And to be honest,
I actually feel...
[inhales shakily]
...guilty.
[sniffles]
And for a long time,
I felt so guilty.
For having a coffee.
[breathes shakily]
Because I put myself in his shoes.
[solemn music playing]
And, like...
I almost...
I'm not saying I was justifying him,
because I'm not,
but... [sniffles]
...I understood him.
And...
But...
I was talking to him,
I was dealing with... [sniffles]
this, uh,
this... problem.
And he wouldn't give an inch.
[clock ticking]
[distant laughter]
- [sniffles] I'll get a tissue. Excuse me.
- [man] Sure.
Go.
- What, aren't there any tissues?
- How come there aren't any tissues here?
[Ilary chuckles, sniffles]
Who knows?
[man] Here we go.
No, that's... [chuckles]
...a panty liner.
[sniffles, giggling] Come on.
[sweet pop music playing]
[journalist] The Ilary-Totti case
has been all the buzz.
Initially, it was a real psychodrama
that I didn't understand.
JOURNALISIt seemed like a local Roman story to me.
But it grew bigger and bigger.
The New York Times published
dozens of articles on this story.
This story isn't just gossip.
It's a little bit
about the present-day Italy as well.
It's as if they were our royal family.
[in Italian] How wonderful!
[Michele] A love story
to which few can compare.
[birds calling]
[driver] It was a wonderful thing
that Rome was witnessing.
We really thought this couple... No?
[chuckling] I'm being honest.
It would last a lifetime.
It was a certainty.
Yes. They'll always be
two wonderful people, you know?
You are talking about me.
I'm in the car. Why do you have to say...
- [driver] Oh, well...
- [laughs]
[solemn instrumental music playing]
THE ORIGINS
[upbeat music playing]
Okay, come. I'll take you to my mother.
She lives next door.
It's quite a walk, as you can see.
Here we are.
This is Oscar, my mom's dog.
- [Daniela] Careful, he scratches.
- Hi!
[Daniela] Oscar! Out.
Let's go, let's go, let's go.
Hi, beautiful.
How's it going? I brought a few friends.
Don't play dumb.
Can't you see something's up? [laughs]
- Good evening. Good morning, even.
- [chuckles] They're friends of mine.
[Daniela] Okay,
- Mom, let's have a coffee.
- Okay.
Okay, so...
- You don't take sugar, but I need some.
- No sugar for me.
[Daniela] I never dreamed
she could've gotten as far as she is now,
because it all started as a game.
She was three, and a neighbor of mine
had kids who'd been doing commercials.
- They were little girls too.
- [actors speaking Italian]
[in English] And she asked me if I wanted
my daughters to try as well.
I said, "Well, don't know,
because they seem a bit introverted,
a bit shy."
She says, "Well, give it a try."
Does it weird you out being filmed?
A lot.
I feel watched. [laughs]
- [in Italian] And how old are you?
- [Daniela] Ilary is three.
Ilary. What a cheerful name!
[Daniela in English]
That's how it started.
She did great and went on
to do tons of commercials, really.
From three to seven or eight years old,
she must have advertised
every possible product you can imagine.
Cars, electrical appliances...
- Toys.
- Toys... Everything.
You know.
When she was about ten,
they kind of stopped picking her.
She was getting tired of it, because...
of course it's fun,
but it still entails sacrifices.
So she stopped.
Until the audition
for Passaparola came up.
- She had done...
- I'd done a lot of auditions by then.
[Daniela] She had done a lot of auditions,
but they all came to nothing.
So this audition for Passaparola came up,
and she said,
"Mom, I'll get the train."
"If it goes well, fine. If it doesn't...
I'll just quit."
"That's enough."
BORN TO BE "LETTERINA"
DR. GERRY AND MR. HYDE
[Melory] I was so proud,
at school, I mean.
My sister was on TV,
a famous sister. I was super excited.
STARSIGN: TAURUS
67 IN. OF CHARM
CLASS OF '81
MAGNETIC EYES
I start doing Passaparola.
I was 19 years old.
SEPT 10, 2001
And...
and he was already Francesco Totti.
[crowd cheering excitedly]
[whistle blows]
[Michele] They say Rome is a cynical city,
a city that doesn't believe in anything.
So it's hard to identify its heroes.
Francesco Totti goes back to a mythology,
because he was born
right in the center of Rome,
between the Palatino and Aventino hills,
where Rome itself was born.
[inspirational music playing]
[Michele] He's linked to origin myths.
People stop him in the street,
trying to touch his right foot.
He's really like a statue,
with the sacred foot of a captain.
I've never watched football.
I still don't.
I didn't watch it before, during, or now.
I'm not at all into that sport, in fact,
it bores me. [laughs]
Oh! A super soccer fan, Ilary!
[laughing]
No, no, she absolutely has
no clue about it,
and after all these years,
she still hasn't figured out
how this game of football works.
At Christmas 2001,
my sister calls me
saying she'd met Francesco,
and she tells me
that Francesco wants to meet me.
Through a mutual friend,
we were introduced.
And that's when Francesco,
I mean... told me he wanted to meet Ilary,
and that he was already in love with her,
and so on.
So my sister,
together with this friend of mine,
arranged to meet.
We meet at a pub in Rome.
We're introduced.
But I don't,
you know,
in the hustle and bustle of the pub,
I didn't take that meeting very seriously.
Francesco and I basically spoke every day...
Every hour, I think.
After a while I return to Rome,
we go out to dinner, all of us together.
We get to know each other a bit better.
He starts writing to me.
Really cute messages, very... shy.
I mean, like,
"How are you? What are you doing?"
When I'd go down to Rome,
we would always meet all together,
and so it went until January, and...
[man] You didn't fall in love
at first sight?
Not in my case, no.
And then in March,
he invites me to the derby.
I wasn't sure I could go,
so I told him, "Look, I don't know."
"No, no, come on, it's great.
It's a wonderful game."
I was a little bit scared.
- I wasn't convinced.
- Did you like him?
Yes, yes. Of course,
I had started liking him.
But the truth is,
I didn't wanna be a number.
And I think he was at his wits' end
trying to convince me.
So he invites me to the derby
because he was preparing a surprise.
And the surprise was the T-shirt
saying, "U R one of a kind."
MAR 10, 2002
As soon as he scores, his friends grab me
and kind of pull me up,
saying, "Look, look.
Look carefully in the midfield."
So I'm like...
I'm looking for him. I didn't understand.
A big boom, the crowd's on their feet.
He kneels down...
And, well, you've all seen it.
U R ONE OF A KIND
[Ilary] My friends are saying,
"It's for you. It's for you."
"It's for you!" [laughs]
With a dedication like that,
done deal. [chuckles]
It's funny to think that
it all started from here,
and so many years have passed.
So this
is the memento
of that night, of all these years.
But...
I'm not sure it belongs to me anymore.
THE TRUE TORY
OF HOW THEIR RELATIONSHIP STARTED
Anyway, two years go by,
the marriage proposal gets more insistent.
Then, finally,
the actual proposal comes in 2004.
[Daniela] He started coming to our house,
which was nothing fancy, you know?
I felt a little embarrassed.
I mean, he must've been used to...
more elegant settings.
My house was just like
any other families'.
But he never acted like he was superior.
[driver] Is that story true,
about how when you were dating,
he pulled up to your house
with his Ferrari,
you opened the door and bam,
you slammed it against the wall?
- Yes, yes, it's true.
- He told that story.
- Of course! I told it too. Yes, yes.
- [laughing]
And he played it cool?
- What would you have done?
- Oh, please, are you kidding? No.
It was our first date,
what could he tell me? [laughs]
It was only months later, when we had
more familiarity, he confessed.
"Damn you!"
[laughing]
"But what was I supposed to say?"
[church bells ringing]
- Did you know I got married here?
- [driver] Yeah, everyone in Rome knows.
- [Ilary] Oh, yeah?
- [driver] Yeah. What a day.
[Fabio Fazio in Italian] I'm glad
you're getting married, but also worried.
Because I'd like to know
whether next year, after the wedding,
you'll be with us in October
when we start again or not?
Well...
is there... is there room
for an extra person?
Here.
- Yes.
- [Ilary] Because there'll be three of us.
- [chuckles]
- I don't get it.
- [heartwarming music playing]
- [audience applauds]
[giggling]
- You.
- Me.
- Me sitting over there.
- You.
And we'll need room for a baby carriage.
- [Ilary laughs]
- [applause]
- [Fabio] That's wonderful!
- Wow.
[in English] During the arrangements
for the wedding,
I found out I was pregnant,
so I got married in June 2005.
JUNE 19, 2005
And I was five-months pregnant. [giggles]
Joy was already in the air,
both because of the wedding day
and because Cristian was about to be born.
We wanted our big day
to be all about friends and family.
And that's how it was.
FRANCESCO TOTTI AND ILARY BLASI'S WEDDING
I didn't get a chance to enjoy it much,
especially Ilary's entrance in church,
which I didn't enjoy at all,
because since she was pregnant
she had to go to the bathroom a lot.
So I went with her,
and then she had to
make her entrance really fast,
as if someone was running
after her. [chuckles]
And I didn't make it in time
to sit down and watch her... her entrance.
[Silvia laughs]
It was definitely a media event,
because it was streamed live
But as far as I am concerned,
it was just my sister's wedding.
[priest in Italian] Do you promise to love
and honor each other in marriage
for the rest of your lives?"
- I do.
- I do.
Francesco and Ilary are husband and wife.
Give them a round of applause.
[congregation applauds]
[Silvia in English] When we came out
of the church,
and we saw all those people outside,
I thought,
"Oh, okay."
[laughing]
MAGICAL WEDDING
[cheering]
[Ilary] From there on,
it was one thing after another,
because after Cristian, during the summer,
I got pregnant with Chanel.
It was like having twins.
So they were really intense, taxing years.
Then we all grew up. Children grow up.
And you feel that desire, you know?
That desire to be mom comes back a little.
So we decided to have...
MAR 10, 2016
...a third daughter, later in life,
with more experience.
And Isabel was born.
AT HOME WITH ISABEL
[Silvia] I always saw them
as very... serene, close, in love.
They were hilarious together.
They were a lot of fun.
INSEPARABLE EVEN IN DIVING
[Daniela]With me, he's always been
very, very nice, affectionate,
even in these conversations we had.
He's always respected me,
both as a... as a mother-in-law
and as a person.
That's what I liked about him. He was so...
humble. Simple, despite...
his success,
despite his popularity, despite his fame,
he liked to do simple things,
like hanging out with his old friends,
just like me.
You might say
that our similar lives sort of met.
Girls, welcome to London.
- London. London!
- Thanks, dear.
[laughter]
[Ilary] Francesco was all about family.
He liked children,
so I have nothing to complain about.
[woman] They were a wonderful couple.
It was always Ilary and Francesco,
Francesco and Ilary.
A bit like Sandra and Raimondo.
FRANCESCO'S COUSIN
Where are they? Giorgia!
Ilary without Francesco
or Francesco without Ilary
was something unthinkable.
Whatever, we'll think about it.
I'm Giorgia, I'm married to Angelo.
My husband is Francesco's cousin.
They've been as close as brothers
for almost 40 years.
[Ilary] Come look over here.
[Giorgia] But now, their relationship
is no longer what it used to be.
If you don't buy these, you're a nobody.
These look good on you.
Anyway, every single time,
they ask me, "Where are you from?"
This lady, too, "Russian?"
- Do I look Russian?
- [Silvia] Today you do, kind of.
- Talk about how at first we didn't...
- Yes, you were obnoxious.
She says I was obnoxious.
The first time I saw her...
Here she comes, the femme fatale.
- Like that, with her red lipstick.
- A femme fatale? Why would you say that?
"A pleasure."
With her hand like this.
"A pleasure, Ilary."
[Ilary] No, that's not how I shake hands.
Not at all. Then we fell in love. [laughs]
[dramatic music playing]
Hey, can we have some cheerfulness?
- Because you girls...
- [Giorgia] Oh, you sure bring cheer!
[Ilary] At least I actually
bring some cheer, because really...
[Giorgia] For God's sake.
You've been wearing us down all morning.
What did I do to wear you down?
[Giorgia] You yell and yell.
- As soon as you get up you yell.
- [Ilary] I don't.
Guys, in the morning,
you get up and talk, you're active.
- [Silvia] No, you yell.
- No, it's not true. I don't yell.
[Giorgia] Oh my God.
[Ilary] Then what happened?
After hanging out for a while,
She's amazing, she's incredible.
I adore her.
- So I'm likable. Can you admit it?
- Yes.
Yes, a lot of good qualities.
She also has a lot of flaws,
you know? A lot.
A lot.
Let's just say she only hugged me
for the first time
after seven, eight years.
[both laugh]
- You're asleep in the morning, anyway.
- Yes.
It's not like I'm sleeping though.
It takes me a while to get up.
I don't like getting up right away.
"I'm not sleeping though."
You're completely awake.
No, I like to get up
and have breakfast right away.
Yeah, because you have to do
an hour on the treadmill.
At 8:30 a.m. you call people
while you're on the treadmill.
I don't know.
[laughs] It's to pass time.
- At 8:30 in the morning...
- I won't call you anymore.
Yeah. Thank God.
[Ilary] Isabel was born in 2016.
Francesco already wasn't playing much.
They'd put him in
a few minutes before the end.
[Daniela] Francesco, in those days was,
I mean, quite depressed.
He wasn't the happy, joyful Francesco
we had known at the beginning.
[Ilary] Of course, he was going through
an intense, sad, tough period.
He was really down.
It's hard to be close to someone who,
in a way, is going through his...
darkest hour?
[Giorgio] During that time,
Francesco suffered greatly.
So maybe Ilary was trying
to have us around
to lighten up those days a bit.
[Silvia] We all stuck by him
because we understood
that it was a big step for him.
A major life change.
I believe when you experience
that kind of adrenaline,
that thrill of the field,
the stadium, the roar,
the fans, the smell of the grass,
um...
what you've always done,
probably since you were born,
and the time comes
when you know that
that thrill and those times,
they will be gone forever.
Forever.
But you have no choice.
It's the fate of all athletes.
[tense music playing]
MAY 27, 2017
Angelo!
I remember the night before the farewell.
I called my friends, our friends.
And I told them to get their scooters.
So, basically, later they call me,
I open the gate to the house,
and there were all the scooter headlights.
And he said, "What? What's going on?"
"Come on, let's go.
You won't be able to sleep anyway,"
So, we drove around Rome.
We had an ice cream.
I mean, it was
the day before the farewell.
[Michele] On May 28, 2017,
Totti bids farewell to football.
It was like a funeral,
of course without a dead man,
but everyone was mourning
the retiring champion.
65,000 people gathered
at the Olympic Stadium.
The whole city embraced its gladiator,
awaiting an uncertain future.
[fans cheering]
[crowd applauding]
[fans singing]
[singing fades]
[Ilary] The following days...
he was on the sofa,
watching his farewell on a loop.
I mean...
[Francesco's speech plays
indistinctly in background]
But...
after that,
slowly, slowly, the days passed.
And...
and I must say he surprised me.
Because he had gotten to that day
full of anxiety,
emotions, fear, rage.
Everything was there.
Day after day, it seemed to me as if,
slowly, slowly...
he was regaining some serenity,
a bit of...
That he accepted it.
That's how it seemed to me.
I don't know...
I don't know. I can't...
I don't know. [sniffles]
Ilary's career starts flying high,
at a moment when he's basically retiring.
ILARY BLASI, FORMER "LETTERINA"
AND TOP MEDIASET HOSA SUPER SEXY PANTHER ROARS ON "LE IENE"
[audience cheering]
I feel like a princess! I swear.
Call me Princess Ilary from tonight on.
Good evening and welcome
to Isola dei Famosi,
where the best is yet to come!
Welcome to the grand finale
of Celebrity Big Brother!
[Michele] You don't have to be
a psychologist to figure out
that this must have had
a big impact on him.
A man who, at 40, finds himself
a king in exile who no longer reigns.
It was the hardest moment
in our relationship.
Except for what happened after that.
[man] Okay,
let's go back to where we were.
28 MAY 2017
[reporter in Italian] It's said
that he's been dating Noemi.
I'm really sick of having to deny this.
[Ilary] He was... fuming.
[voices overlapping]
JAN 28, 2022
[Ilary] It was January 28th
when he comes out with this thing.
That's when I understood
that his silence, his rage,
his... vagueness
were all due
to this coffee.
So from then on...
a series of guilt trips started.
Because he made sure
I was feeling guilty.
[tense suspenseful music playing]
FEB 21, 2022
END OF A FAIRY TALE?
[Ilary] In February, ironically...
this news comes out.
TOTTI AND ILARY IN THE FINAL THROES?
[Michele] On February 21st, 2022,
the news broke on the Dagospia site,
talking about a crisis
between Francesco Totti and Ilary Blasi.
[in Italian] After 20 years
of love and three children,
it looks like Totti and Ilary's marriage,
a couple symbolizing the capital, is over.
Their 20-year relationship
now seems to be ending.
[male reporter] An Italian website
started the rumor
and it has crossed national borders,
even though it has not been confirmed.
FEB 22, 2022
[Michele in English] The day after,
a name emerges, Noemi Bocchi.
And with a first and last name,
all of a sudden,
the news takes on a certain gravity,
it gets real.
All the newspapers pick it up.
Corriere della Sera, what else?
Repubblica, Messaggero...
They all present it as fact.
Waiting...
[Daniela] You think,
"My goodness, people are so mean."
That's what you think.
"How dare they make such presumptions?"
We thought it was a hoax. That's all.
[soccer fans cheering]
[dramatic music playing]
[Michele] The Olympic stadium...
is like an altar for Totti.
It's impossible not to notice
the young Noemi Bocchi.
If she's at the stadium, it's evidence.
It's the smoking gun
proving something is going on.
[Ilary] This news breaks.
For me, it was like... [chuckles]
"You see?
"It's happened to you now. So, explain.
Give me some explanations."
"What's going on here?"
"I don't know who she is."
"What, you don't know who she is?
"They published her name.""
"With... a photo."
"So whoever took that photo
knows who she is."
"They write all sorts of nonsense.
How would I know?"
"They must have introduced me to her
at a padel game. Perhaps I've seen her..."
"Perhaps I've seen her a couple of times.
She asked me a photo for her children."
"Just like billions of people
who want a photo with me."
And indeed,
there was nothing odd about it.
Then he says, "Look, look at the picture."
"She's like, I don't know,
five rows behind."
"From this angle,
you know, you can't tell."
"She's not even next to me."
He was very confident. Very sincere. And...
at that point...
I called my mother,
and asked her if I could come home.
And that's when I broke down.
[solemn music playing]
I had never seen her cry like that.
[Silvia] At some point I got scared,
because I thought, "What's going on here?"
Also because, looking at the picture,
looking closely,
it didn't look at all suspicious to us.
Francesco said, "No, I don't know her."
So if that's what he says...
after 20 years of living with someone,
I think you can...
I mean, trust what he's... telling you.
So I tell him, "If this is the truth,
if what you're saying is true,
you can't turn a blind eye.
You can't just keep quiet."
"I think you should do something."
[birds calling]
[Ilary] So he decides to issue a denial.
[Francesco in Italian] In the past
few hours, I have read in the media
a lot of things about me
and especially about my family.
It is not the first time that I happen...
uh, to hear this fake news.
I'm talking to all of you
who write these things,
you should... be careful,
because there are children involved.
And children must be respected.
And frankly, I'm really sick
of having to deny all this.
[in English] Who to believe?
The journalists... or my husband?
[tense music playing]
Who swore, first to me...
and then in front of the kids.
He swore that...
that
it was all made up.
He swore it.
What would you have done?
[calming music playing]
[Michele] Totti's denial,
which comes on February 22nd,
is not very believable.
If feels a bit overzealous.
Was it really necessary?
Plus, as Mr. Andreotti would say,
who, by the way, was a big fan of Roma FC,
"A denial is a piece of news given twice."
However, he was criticized
for this denial.
TOO BAD HE DOESN'T DENY A DAMN THING
"A weak denial. A half-hearted denial."
TOTTI'S DENIAL, IF YOU CAN
CALL IT THAT, UNCONVINCING
Of course, now... I know
the reason why.
[dramatic music playing]
[camera shutters clicking]
[whistling]
[Ilary] On February 22nd,
these pictures come out.
And these news articles started to pin me
with a series of names.
Men's names. A whole list.
Hell, I didn't understand.
I couldn't make sense of all this.
I didn't know the reason why
this was happening.
Shortly thereafter,
L'Isola dei Famosi was going to start.
And it's common practice
to go on Verissimo to promote the show.
Obviously, it was a hot topic.
So I give him a heads-up.
I say, "Look,
for sure they'll ask me about it."
And he says,
"Feel free to say what you like."
"I have nothing to hide."
So I went there, like a kamikaze.
Head-on.
This story has been talked up a lot,
maybe too much.
BLASI FURIOUS ON TV:
"CRISIS WITH TOTTI? DISGUSTING"
They linked names to me,
while Francesco has been linked
to this girl who goes by Noemi.
With a picture, even.
Pictures at the stadium.
I don't know her
but the most shameful thing
was that national newspapers
of a certain credibility,
such as Corriere della Sera,
such as Repubblica and Messaggero,
presented it as confirmed news,
as if it were fact.
And they made asses of themselves.
[chuckles]
Looking back on myself, what an idiot.
[Daniela] She was convinced.
An idiot.
[chuckles sadly]
She was totally sure that it was
fake news.
[Silvia] She was positive, but so were we.
I mean, Cristian would go along
to the stadium.
So, what are you doing?
I mean, you take your son to the stadium
and you bring along your mistress?
Something like that is unthinkable.
I used strong words.
I called the papers "pieces of shit."
Because, obviously,
I had discussed it with my husband.
So I was certain.
And I really wanted to convey the message,
"Don't you dare
make these conjectures again,
especially since you have
nothing to show me, to prove it."
TOTTI & ILARY, NOEMI POPS UP IN THE CRISIS
SNAPPED WITH HIM AT THE STADIUM
[Ilary] Francesco, on the other hand,
despite all this,
didn't even care about
what the papers had said about him.
Because to him it was all bullshit.
What mattered to him
was the coffee I had.
In fact, he gave me a choice.
And he says,
"For me to be able to trust you,
you must never see Alessia again."
"You have to delete all your social media,
change your phone number,
and then
stop working."
"Francesco, what you're asking me
is to choose between
my life and your life.!
"I choose me."
"This is not the way to gain back trust."
"These things don't help."
When I didn't accept, he...
considered it almost
as not caring about the family,
not caring about him.
[tense music playing]
Then, in May, at a certain point,
Francesco goes away for a while,
like... five days, six days,
because he had a commitment
in Monte Carlo,
and then the final of Roma FC
in Tirana, Albania.
So he was doing all this in one go.
In early June,
Alessia... gets a phone call...
from someone.
A paparazzi.
REVELATIONS
[Ilary] Who wanted to talk to me
because he had
important things to tell me.
So I travel from Milan by train.
- [horn honks]
- [dramatic music playing]
[Ilary] I meet him
at the hotel near Termini Station.
I say, "Okay, let's get a coffee."
So we meet...
- [man] You shouldn't have coffee.
- You're right, coffee is terrible.
Never have coffee.
Coffee is dangerous.
We sit down, and he says that...
that he had a picture.
He shows me the picture.
"THE BIG BABY" CAUGHT WITH NOEMI
[Ilary] There's a hot tub,
where you can see Francesco,
a friend of ours,
and a woman from the back.
Again, they imply...
"Francesco in Monte Carlo
with his girlfriend."
I know that hot tub very well
because I've been going
to Monte Carlo for 20 years.
It's a hot tub located
at the hotel's spa, so it's public.
I mean, you sit on the terrace.
They have sunbeds. There's a restaurant.
So it's public.
I knew Francesco had gone to Monte Carlo.
It's not like I didn't know it.
He had told me so.
And you're not showing me the girl's face.
Why are you publishing it from behind
if you think it's her?
Why not wait until she gets up
from the hot tub and take a frontal shot?
No?
What kind of evidence are you giving me?
So, I go home, and I talk to my husband.
I ask for explanations, picture in hand.
He's like,
"She must be some foreign lady."
"Maybe she was a foreign lady.
There were many people around."
"What do I know?"
"How am I supposed to remember
who she was, seen from the back?"
"You see, no papers have reported it.
Did this get out in any news?"
"No one believes this story anymore."
He was cold. Confident.
Convincing.
Only later, I understood...
[chuckles wryly] I understood why
those photos were taken from behind.
But I only found out later.
[man] What did
the paparazzi want from you?
Apparently, around Rome,
rumors had been building up,
more and more,
spreading more and more,
about Francesco leading
basically a double life.
[taxi driver] In some respects,
Rome is a bit mendacious.
It enjoys mischief.
Romans are gossipy, very gossipy.
[driver] Everyone knew
that Totti had a big appetite.
He loved desserts and women.
So, did they cover for him?
[chuckling] Oh, I think they did, yeah.
- Perhaps.
- [horn honking]
Hey, hey, hey!
Watch the road, though, Primo.
[Michele] Rome is a city
that talks trash about everyone.
You hear some crazy rumors.
Sometimes they can get fierce.
Everything is mixed
and everything is muted,
because when everyone says everything,
basically no one says anything.
Rome knew.
But I only found out later
that Rome knew about it.
No one had ever said a word to me.
Not a word.
I even put myself
in people's shoes.
Who interferes
when a family is so... great?
[solemn music playing]
And symbolic.
JUNE 25, 2022
CERTAINTY
[Ilary] The last two weekends of June,
I was responsible
for hosting L'Isola dei Famosi
twice a week, back and forth.
He takes Isabel,
our youngest daughter, and he takes her
out to lunch.
So, the first weekend, my daughter
goes out to lunch, and she comes back...
let's say, after this lunch...
with a lot of toys.
And she tells me
she was given all these toys. I...
You know, I was still preparing
for the grand finale, so...
I didn't have a lot of time.
So, I ask her, "Who gave you these toys?
Where did you go?"
"Ah, I went out to lunch with friends."
You know. Okay.
The second weekend, she comes back
with toys, new friends, people."
JULY 1, 2022
I ask her, "Who are these kids?
Do you remember their names?"
"Are they boys or girls?"
She thinks about it, and she tells me,
"Yeah, there's this girl.
And she doesn't tell me her name.
She tells me her nickname
that they called her.
I say, "Does she have
a brother or a sister?"
"Yes, yes, she has a brother.
A younger brother."
And she tells me the brother's name.
[distant children playing]
[Ilary] That's when...
I remember from newspaper articles...
that this girl had kids.
TOTTI'S NEW GIRLFRIEND HAS KIDS,
A GIRL AND A BOY
Gradually, I start connecting the dots.
So, I... make a few calls
to find out... her kids' names.
And, uh, wouldn't you know it,
it all matched up.
[tense music building]
Finally,
I had my answer.
[voice catching] I mean,
I couldn't believe...
I couldn't believe...
that the man...
[sniffles] ...who had been at my side
for 20 years, half of my life,
who... had always said
that he loved me
that...
he couldn't live without me,
had done...
[sniffles]
...such a thing.
I felt, uh...
[breathes shakily]
I felt stupid.
Then,
I felt...
disappointed...
disgusted...
a little angry, but...
barely.
[sniffles] Barely, because...
["Past Lives" by Brns playing]
...the guilt wasn't there anymore.
It had vanished.
[sniffles]
Past lives couldn't ever hold me down
Lost live is sweeter
When it's finally found
I've got the strangest feeling...
- [man] Are you okay?
- Yes.
This isn't our first time around
Past lives
Couldn't ever come between us
Sometimes
The dreamers finally wake up
Don't wake me up
I'm not dreaming...
- [man] We're ready.
- Yes.
[man] Okay.
...I'm not dreaming
[man] July 2nd.
You become aware of the fact that...
- That it's all true.
- [man] What happens?
What happens is,
I wanted to see for myself.
- And I wanted proof.
- [ominous music sting]
THE INVESTIGATION
[Ilary] Because...
he was never going to admit it.
So I needed solid evidence.
And that very... night,
he says he's going out to dinner.
So, I call Giorgia.
I tell her,
"You have to go somewhere with me."
I tell her everything.
She comes around 11 p.m.
You have to wear your seatbelt though.
[dramatic music playing]
[Ilary] I tell her she can't say anything
to her husband Angelo.
What did you tell Angelo?
What was the excuse?
[Giorgia] Oh man.
Ennio's tarot reading.
[Ilary laughs]
I told him, "Since Francesco is not home,
Ennio is going over to her place,
a friend of ours that Angelo knows,
with a friend of his
who does tarot readings."
Since we like that.
- We're a bit...
- Yeah.
It's fun.
Yeah. But Angelo goes,
"Do you really have to go?"
So I told him,
"No, no, I really want to go."
"Ennio's friend is going away."
Not least because these tarot cards
were going to reveal a truth.
[Giorgia] Exactly.
[Ilary] I managed
to get hold of the address,
including the house number,
where this young lady lived.
No doubt in my mind.
But I still want to go see,
so we went there.
You were distraught.
Yes. I was distraught.
[sadly] I couldn't... imagine such a thing.
[voice catches] When she told me,
I kind of...
No, please don't, Giorgia.
[Giorgia sniffles]
Luckily you have the personality you do.
If it were me, I would've ended up
in some... mental institution.
[laughs]
Do I have to hug you, now? [laughs]
See? I do hug. I do!
All right, so...
We get there, and...
Yeah. We get there.
And there it was.
The car.
Parked there. The parked car.
When we see the car,
I couldn't believe it. I said, "No."
What, you couldn't you believe it?
- Yeah, okay, but up until the very end...
- We knew what to expect.
[Giorgia] I know, but until the very end,
I guess... you always hope...
Ilary gets out first.
There's this low wall.
She looks over, and she sees.
I couldn't see much, actually.
I heard voices.
I heard... I heard laughter,
as if there was some kind of....
of dinner going on, you know?
A party, in the garden.
Obviously, I was also scared to...
to lean too far over.
So I basically went back to her car...
And that's it.
Then she said, "I'll tell you what."
"You get out,
since you're less recognizable than me."
I was about to... do the same thing,
when I hear someone saying, like,
"Someone's there! Someone's there!" Like...
You run to the car,
you jump in and you say...
I get in the car,
she had got into the driver's seat.
- I say, "Oh my God! They've seen us. Run!"
- Go, go!
Fleeing, she put it in reverse, and boom!
A terrible crash.
She basically hits a tree.
- Ah, was it a tree?
- Yes.
[Ilary] I don't even remember.
[dramatic music playing]
[Giorgia] At that moment, I couldn't think
of anything, not even where we were,
because I was worried about the car.
Did you tell Angelo the day after?
What?
Where we went.
No, I've always told him
that the tarot reading had been good.
He asked me about the tarot cards.
[Ilary] In the end we were laughing
because it was all so surreal.
I'd even say... daring.
[man] Did you take a picture?
Of the car? Yeah.
[man] Mm.
Yes, but...
I kept... I kept quiet, and
I immediately hired a detective.
[suspenseful music playing]
[man] How did you find this detective?
I called my agent,
and I asked
if she can find me one in Milan.
Because I was worried
that if they were from Rome,
they might've covered for Francesco.
Mrs. Blasi has a well-founded,
solid suspicion of marital infidelity.
She wants to know the truth.
She wants to gather evidence.
She provides us with a lot of helpful data
to get the investigation going.
Photos, vehicles
that her husband could use,
and an address,
which, in her opinion,
could be linked
to her husband's... mistress.
[Ilary] On July 5th,
Francesco told me that
he was taking Isabel to dinner
at his friend's restaurant,
together with other friends
and their kids.
But I knew
he was never going to that restaurant.
He was going someplace else.
[Domenico] There we spotted
his friends' vehicles.
And we thought,
"I bet that he left his car
parked far away
from a point of interest
that is compromising for him,
and had his friend drive him from there."
It was already the dead of night
when they brought him back to his vehicle,
and from there he went back home.
[man] So you had your evidence.
Yes and no.
[man] Why?
[snickers]
Because...
the detective got caught. [laughs]
[giggling]
This is turning into a tragic comedy!
[man] But how?
I don't know. You can ask him yourself.
Unfortunately, we weren't able to
conclude our operation successfully
because we got exposed.
There was a security guard
watching out for fans and stalkers.
Consequently,
we were no longer in the condition
to take photographic evidence.
[man] So, sorry,
if he gets caught,
it means
that Francesco knows that you know.
That's right.
The strange thing is...
the night before...
he wanted me.
Sexually.
And obviously,
I said... "No."
The next day,
he was in our bedroom, in the bathroom.
JULY 6, 2022
I asked him, "What happened last night?"
And he didn't confess.
He was still trying to hide it.
I told him, "Come on, that's enough.
I know everything."
I told him everything I knew.
And he said,
"Do you realize what you've done?"
"You hired a detective?"
"Yeah."
"Because you weren't telling the truth
and you were hiding all the evidence."
In the end, I cornered him,
and he admitted it.
But he doesn't say
that it was a serious relationship.
He described it as if...
they started dating casually,
nothing much.
He was good at... spouting bullshit.
Now I know that.
[Daniela] I think cheating signifies
a lack of honesty.
I mean, it's when you lose
not only trust but respect too.
Even with my husband,
if I had doubted something,
I don't know if I could have forgiven him.
You don't get over being cheated on.
Why? Because your instinct
tells you not to.
If something is broken,
it's broken.
Why should you get over being cheated on?
But by then, it was no longer about
accepting his cheating.
At that point, it was...
humiliating, as a woman and as a mother.
The situation was clear,
and there was only
one path for me to take.
[dramatic music playing]
JULY 11, 2022
THE SEPARATION
[reporter 1 in Italian] It's official,
the definite breakup...
The end of Francesco Totti's marriage...
After 20 years, Francesco Totti
and Ilary Blasi's love sinks.
[reporter 2] With the announcement
of a joint press release.
It didn't eventually come
because they couldn't reach
a convergence, just like politicians.
[Ilary in English] He wanted to write
that he had done everything he could
to save this marriage.
And I wasn't okay with that,
because it wasn't true.
[in Italian] "I have tried
to overcome the crisis,
but our separation, however painful,
is no longer avoidable,"
the ex-captain of Roma FC declared.
After 20 years together...
[church bells ringing]
[Ilary in English] Then Rome
went from being... quiet
to suddenly having a lot to say.
This couple hadn't been
an item for a while.
These rumors had been going around
for ages, you could feel it in the air.
Her, him...
Everything and anything has been said.
The Rolexes, the purses...
It's a soap opera.
So, after that,
...other pictures
at the Tirana stadium come out.
WITH NOEMI BOCCHI IN TIRANA
Photos of him leaving her house.
The puzzle pieces were taking shape.
Then, in August,
exactly two months
after the Monte Carlo pictures...
"PUPONE" CAUGHT WITH NOEMI
AT A MONTE CARLO SPA
...I was contacted by a newspaper editor.
He told me that back in May,
a bunch of pictures
had landed on his desk.
And he showed them to me.
And they were the photographs
where you could see Noemi clearly.
Remember I couldn't understand why
that woman could only be seen from behind?
Well, the editor told me
he had obviously contacted Francesco,
who was really worried and desperate.
And he had asked him not to...
not to publish them.
And I believe that the paper,
the editor, in order to protect...
the family, and perhaps Francesco's image...
[in Italian] No newspaper
could afford to say
that Totti and Ilary
had ended their marriage.
Because for a newspaper from Rome
it would have meant losing 40,000 copies.
Because Totti, in Rome,
is the eighth king.
[Ilary in English] The press
was always against me.
In fact, he was addressed as "champion,"
"captain," and I was
the "former game show girl."
[Primo] I think Francesco was right.
[Ilary] What do you mean, he was right?
He was hurt about something
that maybe...
That I did?
You... Yeah.
You were the one to take the first step.
I mean, with Noemi,
it's like she came later.
That's the impression I have.
Yeah, and I imagine it's because
you've spoken quite a bit about it, right?
With your friends. Right?
Yeah. But I think that
that's what most people think.
[haunting pop ballad playing]
[Ilary] Yeah, I know, like I...
[indistinct chatter]
[laughter]
[Ilary] What hurt me the most
was not being understood.
As if to say,
"Well, didn't you know what was going on?"
No.
No.
[indistinct chatter]
[Ilary] I married Francesco Totti
out of love.
Not for money.
And I've always proven that publicly.
I defended him against Mr. Spalletti.
[reporter in Italian] Like February 21st,
when Spalletti sent him back home.
"Spalletti acted as in a petty way."
Harsh criticism on President Pallotta,
who "should switch on his brain"
before talking about her Francesco.
[in English] And I defended him
against Fabrizio Corona.
[Fabrizio in Italian]
What your husband wrote is bullshit!
- Do you want to know how it went down?
- I already know.
Did it bother you to get cheated on
a month before your wedding?
[Fabrizio] Happens to everybody!
[Ilary] You put on that whole show
13 years ago,
but I'm not buying it.
Turn off the live feed!
Bye, Fabrizio, have a good life!
[in English] And why did I defend him?
Because I always believed my husband.
[glass clinking]
Guys, a toast.
- [man] Yes, yes, yes, yes.
- [woman] Yeah!
- [Ilary laughs]
- [man] To what?
This toast is to... thank you,
after everything that's happened,
for having stood by me during the most...
let's say... peculiar,
confused, crazy time of my life.
- Thanks.
- [man] Cheers.
- [Ilary] Thanks. To you, and to us.
- [woman] Cheers.
SEP 11TH, 2022
[Michele] September 11th, 2022,
Francesco Totti gave his famous interview
to Aldo Cazzullo in the Corriere.
TOTTI: "ILARY? I DIDN'T CHEAT FIRST.
I FOUND MESSAGES ON HER PHONE."
[Michele] He says, "I was fragile,
I'd lost my bearings,
and Ilary didn't understand
the seriousness of my distress."
"My wife, when I needed her the most,
was not there for me."
"There was no conversation anymore,
there was nothing left."
[pensive music playing]
[Melory] I was dumbfounded.
"She was never there for him."
Are you kidding me?
Uh... everyone could see
she was there for him.
Maybe not always right by his side,
but she always had his back.
[Michele] "I wasn't the first to cheat."
"In September, last year,
I started hearing rumors."
"'Listen, Ilary is seeing another man.
More than one, in fact.'"
[Daniela] Portraying your ex-wife
as a loose woman,
even if it had been true,
you don't say that kind of thing.
Wouldn't it have been better...
I don't know. To keep quiet, instead?
This is an interview
their children could read in the future.
[Daniela] My whole world fell apart.
It was like Francesco disappeared.
I could no longer recognize
the young man that I... that I had known.
[tense music playing]
[Michele] In addition, Totti accuses Ilary
of having taken his watches.
Everybody wonders what watches.
And he says that he had
this Rolex collection in the bank,
and according to Totti,
Ilary went there with her father
to snatch all these collectable Rolexes.
So now, I'm not just a slut,
but a thief too.
- [laughing]
- [tense music playing]
[Ilary] Here's what happened.
In mid-June, I opened
the safe deposit box, I took...
my watches, the ones
I had bought myself, and his gifts.
And I leave the other watches,
his, in the deposit box.
He talked about this watch collection,
making it sound like I took 30 of them.
[Michele] In this interview, Totti says
that Ilary took his Rolex collection,
and he hid her purses.
[Ilary] He spends
the month of August in Sabaudia,
and since he had the kids,
I went for week on a catamaran
in Croatia, with my friends.
And I took Isabel with me.
I had a shoe closet with an armored door,
where I kept all my shoes and purses.
It's just mine, a room all to myself.
I locked the door with a key
before leaving,
and I took the spare with me too.
Because I know Francesco.
Only later, I found out that armored doors
have three to five spare keys.
So, I got back from... the cruise.
I opened my shoe closet.
And it was completely empty.
Empty.
He literally left me shoe-less.
There was nothing left.
He left her with one shoe and one slipper.
And he
made me an offer.
"Give me back my watches,
and I'll give you back your stuff."
Are you, like, 12 years old?
And I said, "No."
"Because you know perfectly well
that you gave me those watches."
Then the whole month of September goes by.
In mid-October, I wanted to use the spa.
And the door wouldn't open.
I grew suspicious.
I put two and two together,
I say, "The door is locked."
"It means that's where
my shoes and purses are."
The following day,
I arrange for a locksmith
to come and try to open this door.
My architect gets there,
the locksmith gets there,
they press the button, and the door opens.
They look at me, like, "Are you stupid?"
I look at them and I say, "I swear
this door was locked yesterday."
It opened, and I went in,
convinced I'd find what I was looking for
in those changing rooms,
so my purses and my shoes.
Instead, everything was perfectly tidy,
and more importantly, empty.
Going back,
I noticed that there was an armored door
that leads to a service room.
And this door was locked.
Excuse me. I need it back one second.
I even got the locksmith on the case.
He had no clue what was going on.
He must've thought I was crazy,
because I was trembling,
hoping that something was in there.
It's not like I could tell him
what had happened.
So, he must've thought,
"This is a madhouse."
It must have taken him,
like, 15, 20 minutes.
He was all sweaty.
Oh, finally.
I went in.
I looked around a little bit.
I went down the hall.
It's a very narrow hallway.
All the way to the back.
Here it is!
Here's the treasure!
The purses.
Here it is.
Yeah.
I mean, I was laughing about it.
And I was happy that I had found my stuff.
Oh, joy.
But then, I realized
that they weren't all there.
In fact, most of them were missing.
There were more shoes and purses.
They weren't there.
I thought, "Where are they?
Where are they?" A day goes by.
Basically, around 11 p.m.,
I had an epiphany, let's call it that,
and I remembered that up here,
there's an attic that...
I knew it was pretty big.
So, what did I do? I took a...
a ladder.
I climbed the ladder.
I pushed with all my strength
this padded square,
lifting it like that, and moving it.
I went up a bit more.
I climbed. I stuck my head through.
I looked in...
It was pretty dark. But then suddenly...
I see it all.
That's where all the boxes,
the purses and the shoes were.
Both on this side and on the other side.
I have to say that taking them down
was really, really... tiring.
Look where they are, all hidden.
I stayed up until two in the morning,
I called my mother, I called the nanny.
A hassle to take this stuff down.
I loaded it all on a golf cart
that we had around the house,
and I took everything to my mother's.
So I put everything in a safe place.
But then,
it was more about the satisfaction.
Of course, I was happy
that I'd found my stuff.
But above all,
the slap in the face
that I had found them.
[chuckling]
[man] There is one hard fact though.
That he was still at home.
[Ilary] Yes. He stayed for five months.
Actually, he would only come
for a day or two.
The rest of the time,
he wasn't there.
Then he would show up.
You could never tell.
I didn't... I didn't know his schedule.
He could come back
at five in the afternoon
or at two in the morning.
Or not come back at night at all.
Yeah, people don't know.
He went to Dubai,
introducing his new girlfriend
on the red carpet
Except then
he came back from Dubai...
to our home.
SEPARATED AT HOME FOR MONTHS
COUPLE'S FRIENDS CONFIRM THE LATESThat's how it was for five months.
I thought and hoped that...
I mean, at some point he would just leave.
I mean, you're in a relationship.
What are you doing here?
December was coming,
and Francesco told me
he'd like to go... on a Caribbean cruise
for Christmas and New Year's.
And he wanted to bring along
all three of his children.
I didn't agree.
Because it didn't feel right to...
to leave a little girl who was six
with her dad and his new partner.
It... it all seemed a bit premature.
In order to go,
he obviously had to have my consent.
And he was more and more in a rush.
So at that point,
I found myself at a crossroads.
So...
I resorted...
to a ploy.
I told him...
I told him, "Okay
I'll give you permission to go."
"And when you come back from the cruise,
you'll leave the house."
"Or I won't give you permission to go."
He was a bit in a tough spot
because... there were other people
traveling with him,
the group was making arrangements,
so they were all waiting on him.
So... the choice was kind of...
obvious.
I even felt a bit... like
I was using Isabel
as a bargaining chip, right?
But for the well-being of our children...
on January 11th,
he left the house.
[door slamming]
[solemn music playing]
[Melory] I hope she gets her smile back.
What she...
Hold on. Damn it.
[chuckles]
Right at the end!
To stay just the way she is, forever.
Because she's hot, she's cool.
She's... good at her job.
[Daniela] Anything can happen.
They could get back together.
They may separate forever.
As long as they do it in a civil way,
so that they can,
I don't know,
raise their children... together.
That's... what matters.
Actually, when he left home,
those 20 years didn't go away,
because to me...
those 20 years will always be there.
I mean, you can't... [sniffles]
...you can't erase 20 years.
It... it would be,
uh...
it would be stupid.
Why?
It really was a beautiful love story.
[fans cheering]
[Ilary] A happy marriage.
I have no regrets about those 20 years.
I am aware that
things can end.
It can happen.
But... it's the way that they end.
[reporters speaking Italian]
[Ilary] The way you deal with things.
I expected my husband
to... sit down in front of me
and tell me himself.
To accept his responsibilities.
[host in Italian] Could your relationship
survive an affair, by either of you?
[Ilary] No.
By either one of us.
["Past Lives" by Brns playing]
[in English] It's not what a marriage is.
Absolutely not.
And he knew it well.
And he tried
to cover himself
by lying.
Until the very end.
Past lives couldn't ever hold me down...
Lost love...
[Ilary] Sometimes, though,
you have to let yourself be surprised,
and accept life's changes,
and keep going, move forward.
This isn't our first time around...
ILARY BLASI: THE ONE AND ONLY
[man] Listen.
I want to ask you one last question.
- All this mess...
- [Ilary] Mm-hmm?
[man] As absurd as it might seem,
is because of a coffee?
[Ilary] It would appear so.
[man] Would you have that coffee again?
I'd do more than that, at this point.
[chuckling] No, come on. I'm joking!
[laughing heartily]
Bye, Primo. Thank you.
SEPARATION PROCEEDINGS INCLUDING
THE ISSUES IN THE DOCUMENTARY ARE ONGOING
They got nothing on me
Golden eagle
You're the one and only flying high...
[laughing]
Through the cities in the sky
Through all of my lives
I never thought
I'd wait so long for you
The timing is right
The stars are aligned
So save that heart for me
'Cause, girl, you know
You're my destiny
D-destiny
Swear to the moon, the stars
The sons and the daughters
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
Hey, I need you now
I've waited so long, yeah
Baby love, I need you now
I've waited oh, so long
So save that heart for me
'Cause, girl, you know
You're my destiny
D-destiny
Swear to the moon, the stars
The sons and the daughters
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
- Hey
- Save that heart for me
And, girl, I'll give you
Everything you need
Everything you need
Here's to our past lives
Our mothers and fathers
Our love is deeper
Than the oceans of water
Hey, I need you now
I've waited oh, so long