The wife of Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi forced him to make a public apology on Wednesday for sexist quips that outraged her very much.

Berlusconi told some women at a TV awards dinner last week that "if I wasn't already married I would marry you right away", and "with you I'd go anywhere", she said in an open letter in a leading newspaper. .

Veronica, Berlusconi's second wife and mother of three of his children, said the comments belittled her and that she only decided to make her marital spat public after failing to win an apology in private.

"These are affirmations that I see as damaging to my dignity, affirmations that ... cannot be reduced to jokes," wrote Veronica, a former actress.

"To my husband and to the public man I therefore ask for a public apology, having not received one privately."

The soap-opera enthralled the country, with Italians sounding off on whether they agreed with Veronica -- and whether they thought Berlusconi, 70, would submit to his wife, 20 years his junior. Late in the day, Italy's richest man did just that.

"Here I am, saying I'm sorry. I was recalcitrant in private, because I am playful but proud too. Challenged in public, the temptation to give in to you is strong. I can't resist," said Berlusconi.

"So, I beg you, forgive me and accept this public display of a private pride that gives in to your rage as an act of love -- just one of many."