Raffaella Fico (born 29 January 1988) is an Italian

showgirl A showgirl is a female performer in a theatrical revue who wears an exotic and revealing costume and in some shows may appear topless. Showgirls are usually dancers, sometimes performing as chorus girls, burlesque dancers or fan dancers, and ...

, singer, and model.

Life and career

Born in

Cercola Cercola is a ''comune'' (municipality) in the Metropolitan City of Naples in the Italian region Campania, located about 9 km northeast of Naples. Cercola borders the following municipalities: Massa di Somma, Naples, Pollena Trocchia, San S ...

, Fico is the daughter of two

shopkeeper A shopkeeper is a retail merchant or tradesman; one who owns or operates a small store or shop. Generally, shop employees are not shopkeepers, but are often incorrectly referred to as such. At larger companies, a shopkeeper is usually referred t ...

s of fruit and vegetables. In August 2007, she won an Italian beauty contest, "Miss Grand Prix". Fico became first known one year later thanks to her participation in the eighth edition of ''Il Grande Fratello'', the Italian version of the reality show '' Big Brother''. The same year she received widespread media attention for having allegedly auction off her virginity for €1 million during an interview for the Italian magazine '' Chi''. In 2008 she also made her film debut in ''Storia di un amore'' by Maria Manna. In 2009, she hosted the

Italia 1 Italia 1 (Italian pronunciation ) is an Italian free-to-air television channel on the Mediaset network, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It is aimed at both a young adult and adult audience. Italia 1 was launched on 3 January 1982 and, was or ...

show ''Real TV'' on

. Between 2009 and 2010 she featured in four quiz shows hosted by Enrico Papi and broadcast on Italia 1 (''Il colore dei soldi'', ''Prendere o lasciare'', ''Cento X Cento'' and ''Trasformat''). In October 2009, she had an alleged relationship with football player

Cristiano Ronaldo Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro (; born 5 February 1985) is a Portuguese professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football), forward for and Captain (association football), captains both Saudi Pr ...

. In August 2010, she featured in the variety television ''Mitici 80'' on Italia 1. The same year she was in the cast of the variety show '' Saturday Night Live from Milano'', the Italian version of the ''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...

'', and appeared in the Italian comedy film '' Matrimonio a Parigi''. In 2011, she was involved in the

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; 29 September 193612 June 2023) was an Italian Media proprietor, media tycoon and politician who served as the prime minister of Italy in three governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a mem ...

's "

Bunga Bunga Bunga bunga is a phrase of uncertain origin and various meanings that dates from 1910 and a name for an area of Australia dating from 1852. By 2010 the phrase had gained popularity in Italy and the international press to refer to then-Italian Pri ...

" sex scandal as one of the girls who regularly met the Italian Prime Minister in his alleged sex parties. Shortly after her name came to light by interceptions she took part in the

Rai 2 Rai 2 is an Italian free-to-air television channel owned and operated by state-owned public broadcaster RAI – Radiotelevisione italiana. It is the company's second television channel, and is known for broadcasting '' TG2'' news bulletins, ta ...

reality show ''

L'isola dei famosi ''L'isola dei famosi'' (; Italian for ''The Celebrity Island'' or ''The island of the famous'') is an Italian Reality television, reality show, first aired on Rai 2 in 2003, before moving to Canale 5 in 2015. This program is the Italian ''Survivor ...

''. The same year she entered the ballroom dance show ''Baila'' on

Canale 5 Canale 5 () is an Italian free-to-air television channel of Mediaset, owned by MFE - MediaForEurope. It was the first private television network to have national coverage in Italy in 1980. On 4 December 2012, Mediaset launched Canale 5 HD, a ...

. In September 2012, she walked the runway of

Milan Fashion Week Milan Fashion Week () is a clothing trade show held semi-annually in Milan, Italy. Upcoming autumn/winter fashions are showcased in February/March of each year, and upcoming spring/summer fashions are showcased in September/October of each year ...

while 6 months pregnant, wearing a bikini. Between December 2011 and January 2012, she had an on-and-off relationship with football player

Mario Balotelli Mario Balotelli Barwuah (; ''Birth name, né'' Barwuah; born 12 August 1990) is an Italian professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for club Genoa CFC, Genoa. Balotelli started his ...

. Balotelli asked for a paternity test in July 2012 in response to her pregnancy. In 2013 Balotelli had to defend himself against Raffaella Fico's accusations of being "irresponsible" and "unconcerned" about his newborn baby daughter, Pia. Balotelli had finally acknowledged paternity of her daughter Pia on 6 February 2014. In June 2014 Fico, under the record label Momy Records / Do It Yourself sang her debut single, joining as a singer in the world of pop / urban / hip-hop. The piece is titled "Rush" produced by Gianluca Tozzi (son of the Italian singer

Umberto Tozzi Umberto Antonio Tozzi (; born 4 March 1952) is an Italian pop and rock singer and songwriter. Throughout his career, he has sold over 70 million records in different languages internationally, and his biggest international hits are: " Stella ...

), On 10 June, it was published on his

YouTube YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...

channel accompanied by th
official video
The song is available on

iTunes iTunes is a media player, media library, and mobile device management (MDM) utility developed by Apple. It is used to purchase, play, download and organize digital multimedia on personal computers running the macOS and Windows operating s ...

since 9 June. On 22 October 2014, she published her first album called as her single ''Rush'', with ten tracks.

Filmography

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Fico, Raffaella 1988 births Living people People from Cercola Italian showgirls Italian television presenters Italian female models Participants in Italian reality television series Italian women television presenters