Miss Mussolini, a right-wing politician and former actress and model, resigned from the Italian political party National Alliance in 2003 following a visit of the party leader to Israel where he denounced fascism as "the absolute evil" and apologised for Italy's role during the Second World War.

She did, however, defend the right of Israel to exist and declared that the world "should beg forgiveness of Israel". In March 2005, Miss Mussolini was banned by a local court from regional elections held the following month for presenting fraudulent signatures. She went on hunger strike to protest the decision and blamed her former party, the right-wing National Alliance, for engineering the forgery scandal.

She sparked outrage in 2006 when she responded to claims by the transgender Italian M.P. candidate Vladimir Luxuria that she was a 'fascist' with the line: Meglio fascista che frocio ("It is better to be a fascist than a faggot")

In 2007, she caused the collapse of the far-right Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty grouping within the European Parliament when she declared all Romanians living in Italy to be "criminals" in remarks about the EU's immigration policy. This prompted delegates from the Greater Romanian Party to quit the group. She was also involved in rumours of a sex video scandal with members of her former political party in 2009. The rumours have not been confirmed.

Most recently, Miss Mussolini has lashed out at Italian model Bianca Balti for criticising Silvio Berlusconi, saying: "She's ashamed of being Italian? She should go to France then, with Carla Bruni to play the guitar."

Italian-born French first lady, Carla Bruni, has also said she has been embarrassed by Mr Berlusconi's antics. Miss Mussolini recently criticised Miss Bruni for for not persuading France to open its borders to illegal immigrants, saying she should receive them in her “chateaux”.