The widow of Luciano Pavarotti, Nicoletta Mantovani, last weekend criticised all that speculation in the Italian media regarding the state of the late opera star's financial affairs and the state of the couple's marriage in the months before his death - and also on rumours that she is in dispute with Pavarotti's older children by his first marriage over his final will.
She told Italy's RAI TV network that she felt she had to speak out for the sake of her late husband and their four year old daughter Alice, saying: "I'm here and can defend myself. But Luciano can't, and Alice is a four-year-old child. I owe it to the two people closest to me".
Denying all the rumours in the press, she continued: "Luciano was someone who took care of everything in every sense... meaning he left enough for everyone. Between me and his daughters, there is no disagreement. The press and television that is trying to incriminate that relationship is truly unseemly".