Francesco Totti's ex-wife is set to return to Netflix for the second season of her behind-the-scenes documentary, with viewers waiting for more revelations about their relationship.
Described as Italy's answer to Posh and Becks, Totti and Ilary Blasi married on national television in 2005 and had three children together.
They established themselves as one of the most popular couples in Italy after meeting in 2001 and being married for 17 years.
The couple separated in 2022 and although the split initially appeared to be amicable, their divorce proceedings became increasingly acrimonious.
Blasi, an Italian television presenter and former model, was accused of infidelity by Totti.
She responded to the claims in a Netflix documentary titled “Unica,” which was released in 2023 and quickly became a hit on the streaming service.
“I spent a year and a half observing and understanding what had happened,” Blasi said on Italian TV chat show Verissimo, ahead of the documentary's launch.
'I have read and listened to all the different views and opinions. But it was my story and I always put my face in everything I did. So this time I thought it would be good to say it too.
“Francesco has always been jealous of me, his jealousy was nothing new.”
The marriage deteriorated after Blasi hired a private investigator to track down her husband after she believed he was unfaithful.
'Unica' explained how Blasi got to know the relationship between Totti and his new girlfriend Noemi Bocchi.
It turned out that Blasi learned of their relationship through a play date her daughter Isabel had. They would break up shortly afterwards.
Roma legend Totti, who scored 307 goals in 785 appearances for the club, denied Blasi's claims.
The former Italy international, now 48, blamed his ex-wife for the breakdown of the marriage.
“It is not true that I was the first to betray,” Totti said.
'I said I wasn't going to talk and I didn't, but I've read too many hoaxes in the past few weeks. Some even made my children suffer.”
Totti had also claimed that Blasi did not support him after his retirement from football and when his father died due to Covid-19.
He also suggested that Blasi had damaged his mental health after claiming she cheated on him.
Totti claimed he went through his wife's phone after hearing rumors that she was cheating on him.
'I had never done it in twenty years, and she had never done it to me either. But when I started getting warnings from several people I trust, I started suspecting,” he said, adding that he was “not the first to cheat” in the marriage.
Blasi later claimed that a message discussing a meeting at a hotel was intended for a private investigator, whom she had hired to follow her husband. Totti had also accused Blasi of having bugs and GPS installed in his car.
Blasi had suggested that Totti was looking for an escape route from their marriage and accused him of cheating several times.
'He is the father of my children. Maybe he was confused, scared, maybe it was an easier escape route, but nothing like what we feel today,” she said.
'More betrayal? Probably, but I have no proof. In my heart I say yes now.
“I tried every means possible to save this marriage and did what a wife and mother should do. But it didn't work.'
She denied to Corriere della Sera last year that the couple had had an 'open relationship'.
“What hurt her most was reading that I knew everything, even that we were an open couple, but only on one side: not mine,” Blasi said.
'It's not true that I was okay with being cheated on.
'As if I could consider myself lucky to be “the chosen one”: I was with the world-famous footballer and that's why I had to close my eyes and be silent. Before and after. I'm used to gossiping, but all this has damaged my integrity as a woman.'
The breakdown of the marriage had captivated Italy, with one newspaper coining the headline 'The War of the Wardrobe' in response to one of the more farcical elements of their divorce.
Totti had claimed that Blasi had 'run away' with his Rolex watches worth a total of more than £830,000, leading to him hiding her shoe collection and handbags from Jimmy Choo, Amina Muaddi, Le Silla, Casadei and Gucci in retaliation .
Speaking to Corriere della Sera, he said: 'What was I supposed to do? I hid the bags, hoping for an exchange.'
Blasi made a video seemingly mocking Totti on Instagram while posing in front of a Rolex store. The model and TV presenter eventually reclaimed her assets.
While the 2023 documentary 'Unica' delved into the breakdown of their marriage, Blasi has since claimed that she would like to have dinner with Totti and their three children.
“Hope is the last to die, that would be nice,” Blasi said, expressing hope that her ex-husband and his girlfriend Noemi Bocchi are happy.
Totti reportedly started dating the Italian model and presenter shortly after her split from Blasi, with the mother-of-two pictured with the star at a Roma match.
Blasi has also moved on by dating German entrepreneur Bastian Muller.
'He was the one who took the decisive step. I thought about everything except finding a boyfriend, I had been alone for four months. We were sitting in an airline lounge waiting to board,” Blasi told Il Messaggero.
'I went back to Rome and he to Germany. He had never seen me before and luckily didn't know who I was.
'He waited for me outside the toilet, introduced himself and instead of asking for my number, he asked what my Instagram profile was.
“I gave it to him, but I didn't ask for his. When I reached my sister and my friend Francesca, who had seen everything, they insisted that I go and ask him before boarding: “Go, otherwise you will never find him again,” they said.
'I have too many followers, I wouldn't have seen his request. That's how we came together.'
She recently described her divorce from Totti as a “second chance,” which will reportedly be explored in the second season of her Netflix show, titled “I am Ilary.”
“There was more media attention for Unica, it was about the divorce, I had never spoken before,” she said.
'Here we change registers, there I am and you have to want to be curious about the things I do. I never have expectations, but I had fun.
'My life started in the media and ended in the media, including the divorce.'
Netflix claims that in the series, Blasi will “try new experiences, go public with her new boyfriend, and enjoy the happy consequences of her difficult divorce.”
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