Chiara Ferragni accuses husband of a long-term affair seven years after ‘$1 million wedding’ -and claims he ‘abandoned’ her after she was charged with fraud

When Chiara Ferragni married her rapper boyfriend in September 2018, her life looked like something out of a 21st Century fairytale.

After whisking 160 friends and family away to Sicily for a long weekend, Italy’s most prolific influencer dazzled her guests (and 14m followers) with three show-stopping bridal gowns.

For her outdoor ceremony, the glamorous social media star lined the aisle with white hydrangeas – while the altar was framed by hundreds of roses dangling from trees, before pastel-coloured flares exploded in the background for their first kiss.

In the evening, the happy couple had an amusement park set up at their venue for their guests to enjoy and ended the day with an extravagant firework display.

At the time, it was reported Chiara and Federico Leonardo Lucia – who got engaged on live TV in 2017 – spent an eye-watering $1m on their big day.

But behind the picture-perfect image they presented to the world, the couple were plagued by serious relationship issues from the start, which have now only just come to light.

Last week, Chiara – who shares Leone, six, and Vittoria, three, with her ex-husband – sensationally revealed that Federico was having an affair throughout their eight-year relationship, and even offered to leave her at the altar.

Here FEMAIL delves into how Chiara’s fairytale life was torn apart by infidelity – as she faces jail time over a professional scandal of her own.

Italian fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni tied the knot with her rapper beau Fedez in a lavish outdoor ceremony in Sicily in 2018

Pictured: Italian rapper Fedez and his ex-wife Chiara Ferragni pictured two months before they announced their separation in February 2024

Chiara ignores gut feeling Fedez is ‘not the right guy’ for her 

In 2009, Chiara was living in Cremona, Italy, when she set up her fashion blog The Blonde Salad.

At the time, the ex-law student had already amassed a fairly sizeable following by sharing photos of her street style on the websites Flickr and Lookbook.

It wasn’t long before the fashion industry came calling – and brands including Dior, Nike and Benetton sent the Italian content creator to London and New York to review their collections.

At the time, she worked with her ex-boyfriend Riccardo Pozzoli to monetise the website – and told The Guardian how she would charge brands between €1,000-2,000 to model their clothes.

In 2010, Chiara bagged her first magazine cover – and by 2015, her blog was getting 6m monthly views.

That same year, the blogger – who has been dubbed ‘Italy’s first influencer’ – met her future husband Fedez when she was staying with friends at the same hotel.

In an interview with Politiko, Chiara says she was later told that he had written a song about her, which referenced her dog wearing a Louis Vuitton bow tie.

Pictured: Fashion blogger Chiara Ferragni attends a fashion event in Los Angeles in August 2015

Chiara was living in Cremona, Italy, when she set up her fashion blog The Blonde Salad. Pictured in October 2015

She joked: ‘Everyone was telling me that he had mentioned me and I thought: “Oh my God, who knows what he said.”

‘I was terrified that he had mocked me. I listened to the song and it was very cool.’

From then on, the two engaged in a social media flirtation – but their work schedules prevented them from going out on a first date. 

When Fedez finally did ask her out, Chiara admitted she had a gut feeling she shouldn’t date him – but eventually decided to ignore it.

She added: I was single at the time, I wanted to [go out with him], but I absolutely didn’t think he could be the right guy for me, I don’t know why. 

‘But I liked him, I liked him and he seemed like a very honest person.’

Pictured: Chiara Ferragni and Fedez in the front row Moschino show at Milan Fashion Week in February 2020

The couple (pictured in 2019) first met in 2015 and began dating the following year – with Chiara later revealing that she ‘absolutely didn’t think he could be the right guy for me’

Fedez ‘began cheating the same year he proposed’

Chiara and Fedez officially began dating in September 2016 – but the influencer has now claimed he began cheating on her the next year.

The couple enjoyed a whirlwind romance and got engaged in May 2017 after nine months of officially dating.

When he popped the question, Chiara was attending one of Fedez’s concerts for her 30th birthday when he asked her up on stage.

While Forever Young played over a montage of their happiest moments, the thousands of fans were then given hearts to hold up in the air.

The rapper reportedly then turned to her and said: ‘We don’t need rings to be together.

‘But to ask you what I’m about to ask, perhaps I do [need one]…’ 

Pictured: Chiara after Fedez proposed in front of thousands of adoring fans for her 30th birthday in 2017

Pictured: Italian fashion designer Angelica Montini, whom Fedez has claimed he had a six-year affair with during his relationship with Chiara

Although this seemed like a grand romantic gesture at the time, Chiara has now claimed her ex admitted to starting a relationship with Italian designer Angelica Montini the same year he proposed.

She wrote in a lengthy Instagram statement last week: ‘A few days before Christmas 2024, Federico called me (aware that he was talking to me on the phone) and admitted for the first time to the relationship with his girlfriend that had been going on since 2017.’

Fedez ‘offered to walk out on wedding’ and ‘texted mistress before cancer operation’ 

18 months after Fedez proposed, the couple threw a lavish wedding in Sicily.

Chiara, who has 14million followers on Instagram, wore a stunning ivory lace gown by Dior for the outdoor ceremony

Chiara and Fedez’s lavish reception included a spectacular fireworks display, captured in an Instagram snap shared by a guest

For the occasion, Chiara wore three stunning looks designed by Dior’s creative director Maria Grazia Chiura, who was also a guest at the wedding.

The fashion blogger, who has 14million followers on Instagram, opted for a elegant lace gown for the ceremony, worn with a full-length veil.

Her second wedding dress was a nude fairytale-inspired gown, with embroidered detailing and a full tulle skirt.

In an Instagram post, Chiara explained how the custom made Dior haute couture dress had lyrics from a song that Fedez wrote for her when he proposed, as well as symbols of their relationship.

For her final wedding look, the blogger changed replaced the floor-length skirt for a shorter ballerina-style tutu, for a more relaxed evening look.

Snaps from inside the lavish reception show the funfair-style entertainment – with the couple’s nickname The Ferragnez seen up in lights.

Guests were seen enjoying the carousel, as well as arcade games and a traditional Ferris wheel.

Chiara wore three stunning gowns by Dior on her wedding day, including a second fairy-tale inspired gown embroidered by lyrics written by the groom Fedez (right)

Although Fedez looked blissfully happy on the day, even taking to the stage in the evening, Chiara claims he has subsequently told her that he almost left her at the altar.

Elsewhere in her recent Instagram statement, the mother-of-two claims he admitted to calling his girlfriend minutes before marrying her – and even offered to walk out of the celebrations.

Chiara continued: ‘He puts other details on a table with his friend to make public, very low blow. Details like his phone call with his girlfriend, just before he went up to the altar, telling her that a nod would be enough to give up everything.’ 

In March 2022, Fedez underwent surgery to remove a rare kind of pancreatic tumour and was allegedly also texting his mistress beforehand.

In her statement, Chiara spoke of her heartbreak after learning Fedez had been messaging Angelica while she and her children were holding his hand in hospital and wishing she ‘could have that evil in his place so as not to see him suffer’.

After just under six years of marriage and two children, Chiara and Fedez announced they were separating in February 2024. The couple pictured with Sarah Jessica Parker in Verona in October 2019

Elsewhere in her recent Instagram statement, the mother-of-two (pictured) claims he admitted to calling his girlfriend minutes before marrying her – and even offered to walk out of the celebrations

Chiara is believed to have commented on her ex-husband’s alleged infidelity he confided in friend Fabrizo Corona, who has subsequently leaked the information to the Italian press.

Fedez said in a statement: ‘When Angelica decided to end our relationship, I made a big mistake—I confided in Fabrizio and a mutual friend. It was a poor decision at a vulnerable time, and now I’m facing the consequences. But I reject any conspiracy theories or claims of manipulation.’ 

Fedez ‘abandons’ Chiara amid her ‘fraud’ scandal

After just under six years of marriage and two children, Chiara and Fedez announced they were separating in February 2024.

The news came just two months after Chiara was fined more than one million euros (£930,000) by Italy’s anti-trust authority for claiming the sales of a limited edition Christmas cake would raise money to help children with bone cancer.

Last month, Chiara agreed to pay at least 1.2 million euros to a children’s charity to settle the case.

However, she is now facing a criminal trial in which a definitive conviction could result in a sentence of between one and five years.

A social media post shows Ferragni, 36, holding the special edition cake she created in a pink box as she kneels in front of a Christmas tree

Ferragni admitted to a ‘communications error’ in an apology to her fans in an apology video posted to her Instagram page

The influencer has called the accusations of fraud ‘deeply unfair’, adding that she believed ‘sincerely that it was not necessary to hold a trial to prove that I never cheated anyone’. She added that she is ‘ready to fight with even greater determination to prove my absolute innocence.’ 

The scandal became known as ‘pandoro-gate’ after the star used her platform to promote the pink Christmas edition of a pandoro – a traditional festive cake which is a fruitless alternative to the more famous panettone. 

Her followers were told that the cash raised would go to Turin’s Regina Margherita Hospital for children, and money raised was said to be earmarked for a new scanner to help detect types of bone cancer.

But an inquiry heard Ferragni and Balocco had agreed that just 50,000 euros (£43,000) would go to the hospital regardless of how well the cake sold. 

After a year-long investigation, Italy’s competition watchdog AGCM announced the fine of 1.075 million euros.

Consumers believed that they would have been helping to purchase a new machine for the therapeutic treatment of children suffering from Osteosarcoma and Ewing’s Sarcoma

It found that consumers had been duped into thinking that by buying a Ferragni-branded pandoro, they were contributing to the charity and hospital. The AGCM also fined cake maker Balocco 420,000 euros. 

The conspirators had justified the nine euros (£7.70) price by saying the more cakes they sold, the more the children’s clinic would receive, AGCM found.

The regulator added that Ferragni made no personal payments to the hospital, while her companies received 1 million euros from Balocco for the branding initiative and related promotional activities. 

In a video published on her page in 2023, Ferragni admitted to a ‘communications error’ in an apology to her fans.

Sounding contrite and almost tearful, the model said she would donate one million euros to Turin’s Regina Margherita Hospital – the paediatric hospital at the centre of the controversy – to give ‘concreteness’ to her apology.

Ferragni told local media at the time: ‘I’m sorry that, after all my and my family’s commitment in recent years on the charitable activity front, we persist in seeing the negative in an operation in which everything was done in good faith.’ 

In her most recent statement, Chiara blasted her ex-husband for ‘abandoning’ her at the lowest point of her career.

She wrote: ‘I didn’t say anything even when I was being abandoned from one day to the next during my first period of difficulty last February, when I could barely get out of bed. 

‘I heard many times that I kicked him out of the house, but it was never said that I kicked him out of the house after discovering a betrayal in those days (one of many, of course)[…]

‘I have remained silent on many topics and slanders to continue pretending as if nothing had happened, my relationship with Federico was real to me, I have never been in an open relationship (it was obviously open only to the other party without me knowing) and despite all that, I am proud to have loved unconditionally. 

‘I am sorry that for the other party I have been a person to be mocked and used as desired, but sometimes it is good to open your eyes, understand the consequences, suffer, stand up and understand that you deserve something different. A love that may not be perfect but at least true and experienced equally by both parties. I wish it for myself.’