Italy’s former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi has split from his partner after a 12-year relationship, his Forza Italia party said.

The 83-year-old billionaire and 34-year-old Francesca Pascale will “remain friends”, Forza Italia said in a statement.

Pascale, who once said in an interview that she asked Berlusconi to marry her every day, appeared to have been caught off guard, saying she was “astonished” by the statement, according to the Repubblica paper.

“I will hold him dear for ever. I wish him all the happiness in the world and hope he finds someone who will take care of him as I have,” she said.

The twice divorced media magnate, whose domination of Italian politics for more than two decades despite sex scandals, serial gaffes and legal woes earned him the nickname “the immortal”, is reportedly dating 30-year-old Marta Fascina, an MP from his party.

Berlusconi was sentenced in 2013 to seven years in jail for paying for sex with a 17-year-old, though that conviction was later overturned.

Rumours have been swirling in the gossip media for a while over his relationship with Fascina. But once paparazzi pictures emerged of the ex-premier and Fascina leaving a hotel in Switzerland walking Pascale’s dog, the secret was out.

Italian media had reported back in 2014 that Pascale bought a wedding dress to celebrate Berlusconi’s divorce from his second wife, Veronica Lario. Lario, who has three children with Berlusconi, said at the time that she could no longer tolerate his “consorting with minors”. She questioned his mental state as she threw in the towel after 19 years of marriage.