Ex-Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, 86, is hospitalised for medical checks

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been admitted to San Raffaele Hospital in Milan two months after being diagnosed with leukemia and a lung infection.

Berlusconi, 86, who is in a relationship with 33-year-old Forza Italia MP Marta Fascina, has been hospitalized for medical check-ups, a source said.

The billionaire media mogul was released from hospital last month after being treated for a lung infection related to chronic myelomonocytic leukemia (CML).

Berlusconi’s health has deteriorated significantly in recent years, with open heart surgery in 2016 and numerous hospitalizations since he contracted COVID-19 three years ago.

He was admitted to the intensive care unit of the cardiac ward at San Raffaele Hospital in April after suffering from breathing problems.

While there, Berlusconi, the leader of the right-wing Forza Italia party, was diagnosed with a lung infection and chronic myelomonocytic leukemia – a rare form of blood cancer characterized by a high white blood cell count.

Berlusconi has previously overcome prostate cancer, which he described as “a months-long nightmare.”

But it was his battle with Covid in 2020 that he described as the “most dangerous challenge” of his life.

Italy’s three-time prime minister, who has been embroiled in several scandals – particularly around his infamous ‘bunga bunga’ parties – was hospitalized with a minor heart problem after passing out in 2006 and underwent heart surgery at a US hospital in January 2007.

The former owner of AC Milan, who also underwent major heart surgery in 2016 to replace an aortic valve, has had a pacemaker for several years.

He was hospitalized again in January 2022 for a reported urinary tract infection.

Berlusconi, who won a seat in the Italian Senate in September’s general election, has sparked controversy in recent months with his criticism of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, putting him at odds with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni .

The billionaire, whose Forza Italia party is part of the ruling governing coalition, was accused – but acquitted this year – of paying young starlets and others for “silence and lies” about his notoriously hedonistic soirees, which he always insisted were elegant dinners were.

The verdict was the culmination of a legal battle that began in 2010 when Berlusconi, the then prime minister, was accused of abusing his power to protect young Moroccan nightclub dancer Karima El-Mahroug.

Berlusconi, who has five children, was temporarily banned from political office following a 2013 conviction for tax fraud, for which he was serving community service.

But he returned to the political front lines and was re-elected as a senator last year.

The media magnate, who first entered politics in 1994, currently has no role in government.