«YLenia is in Romina’s heart, in my heart. And that’s only where she is alive»: Al Bano Carrisi chose these words to respond to his ex-wife. Romina Power had just publicly accused him of Beastsin front of Francesca Fagnani, of not having been close to her after the disappearance of her daughter. And he, guest of Mara Venier at Sunday Infound himself forced to respond live, with the voice giving out and a glass of water asked for halfway through the speech to be able to continue.
What Romina Power had said to Beasts
It’s not the first time that the two have talked about this story in front of the cameras, but Romina’s words a Beasts they had gone beyond the usual: he had described him as a “missing” support, a man who had preferred his career to his family in his darkest moment. Al Bano responded point by pointstarting from the months immediately following the Ylenia’s disappearance in New Orleans in 1994when he says he spent whole nights touring the city with an inspector in the crime districts. «When I left, it wasn’t for work. I understood that there was nothing left to do».
“Don’t kill me, I don’t deserve it”: Al Bano’s reply to Sunday In
Listening to the words of his ex-wife on headphones, sitting in the studio in front of Mara Venier, was for Al Bano like receiving, as he himself says, “a stab in the heart”. The accusation that struck him most forcefully was that of selfishness, of having put his career before his family just when Romina needed it most. «Don’t kill me, I don’t deserve it. I know that I have been a great support, I have been a great pillar”he responded with a firmness that however allowed the full weight of that wound to shine through.
On his role as a father, Al Bano left no room for interpretation: «I know I am a great father, I have always demonstrated it and I will continue to demonstrate it. These words hurt me so much, I don’t deserve it, it’s not fair and it’s not true». And on his presence at Romina’s side in the most difficult moments: «I was there, I have always been there, but she didn’t even see me».
Ylenia Carrisi, thirty years later: two truths that cannot find peace
It is on the missing daughter that the distance between Al Bano and Romina Power becomes unbridgeable. TO BeastsRomina had reiterated her belief that Ylenia is still alive somewheresupported by the words of psychics and priests who over time confirmed this certainty to her. A hope that he has clung to for thirty years and that Al Bano, however, is unable and does not want to share.
«I accepted the truth. It’s been hard, and it’s hard, and it will never go away, I know that. But I have no illusions.”: these are the singer’s words, spoken barely holding back the tears and stopping several times before being able to move forward. Ylenia Carrisi disappeared in New Orleans in January 1994, at the age of 23, and was never found again. Al Bano obtained the declaration of presumed death in 2014a choice that Romina never shared.
Al Bano and Romina, 25 years together: «We were really happy»
Despite the pain of the present, Al Bano has not given up remember what had happened before the tragedy. They had met on the set of a film, he was struck by that American girl who, during breaks, would seclude herself in a corner to knit. «For her I did some crazy things, which can and must be done in love»he said, smiling for a moment, before his face turned serious again.
Twenty-five years together, then Ylenia’s disappearance and “the moment of the night”, as he defined it when speaking with Mara Venier. Today what remains, on Romina’s part, is a resentment that Al Bano says he doesn’t fully understand: «I wish we could all live in peace, like a big extended family». A desire that, at least for now, does not find an answer on the other side.
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